At Fourteen, We Slowly Begin to Realize Our Feelings (2)
“……Huh?”
No, why is she here? They say that when people get too shocked, they can’t even make a sound, and that was exactly right. The moment I caught a glimpse of Aki through the slightly open back door, the surprise hit me so hard that my breath caught in my throat and my whole body jerked.
“……Ah.”
The instant our eyes met, Aki’s face flushed faintly and she took a step back. That shy little movement flooded my head with a whirlwind of thoughts.
What is this? Why is Aki standing in front of our classroom? Did she hear everything? Did she listen to the whole conversation between me and Jaehyun from beginning to end? No way, that can’t be. The class next door had homeroom too, so she probably didn’t catch all of it. Yeah, that must be it. But there’s still a good chance she heard the second half. Then that means she might have heard me shouting about deciding to marry Aki…
Step.
Aki took one step backward. The sound of her slippers echoed through the unnaturally quiet hallway and snapped me back to my senses. Still gripping the mop, I walked toward her.
“Aki, when did you get here…?”
“W-wait a second…!”
Aki thrust her right hand up, palm out like a stop sign telling me not to come any closer.
“Um… Wooju-chan……?”
“Y-yeah?”
“It’s true that I and Wooju-chan have decided to get married, but…… How should I put it? I think shouting something like that in front of other people is a little… no, I think it’s wrong.”
“…….”
She really had heard everything. I felt my limbs go stiff and froze on the spot.
Aki glanced at me standing there awkwardly like a half-finished statue, then mumbled one more thing.
“W-when it’s just the two of us, it’s fine to say things like that…. But when other people can see, I’d like you to show some restraint……”
“……No.”
What was she even saying? If Aki put it that way, it sounded like I spent all our alone time making endless love confessions.
“Whoa……”
My hunch must have been dead on, because Jaehyun, who had been stuck between us, gave me a lukewarm stare.
“Hold on, Jaehyun, I think you’re misunderstanding something right now……”
“Ah, well……”
Jaehyun scratched his cheek sheepishly.
“Have a beautiful romance, you two…?”
“……No, it’s not like that!”
Tap!
The second I yelled at Jaehyun for his weird misunderstanding, Aki spun around and sprinted off. I don’t know why, but the thought that I had to catch her hit me instantly. I tossed the mop aside and shouted.
“Jaehyun! I’m really sorry, but I’m going after Aki real quick!”
“Hey, wait—!”
As I tried to dash out the back door, Jaehyun snatched my bag from my desk and hurled it at me. I caught it mid-air, and he waved me off like I should just hurry up.
“Take your bag too. I’ll finish cleaning. Just go.”
“Huh? But……”
“Never mind, just go. Consider this payback for today, okay?”
“Ah, yeah! Got it!”
I wasn’t sure what exactly we were calling even, but I wasn’t in any state to argue. I gave Jaehyun a quick nod and burst into the hallway. Aki hadn’t gotten far yet. I spotted her back and sprinted after her, catching up in seconds.
“……Aki!”
“Ah……”
Her running speed had looked deceptively fast, but catching her turned out to be surprisingly easy. That wasn’t important right now, though. I caught my breath and gently pulled her into a quiet corner of the hallway.
“Haa…… Aki, why were you there? And before that—why did you run away?”
Thanks to her, I’d ended up doing exercise I never asked for and now I was out of breath.
Cornered, Aki stared at me panting heavily, then fidgeted by pressing her index fingers together and mumbled.
“I-I thought I should run away…?”
“……Huh?”
“Your face was super red, Wooju-chan. So I thought you were mad at me……”
“Ah, was it that bad…?”
There was no mirror around, so I couldn’t check my own face, but if Aki thought I looked angry, it must have been bright red.
Well… I guess that makes sense.
After all, I had boldly declared a childish promise right in front of the person it concerned.
“I’m not mad, Aki.”
“Mm, if you’re not, then good…. Oh, right. I came because Wooju-chan was taking so long. I was worried something happened.”
“No, nothing happened. I just got held up cleaning the classroom……”
“I see……”
“…….”
“…….”
The misunderstanding cleared up in just a few sentences, but once the rush of adrenaline faded, a thick wave of embarrassment crashed over me. Even though I had chased down Aki after she suddenly ran and caught her, the words that had already left my mouth weren’t going to disappear.
……I want to turn back time.
I wanted to rewind five minutes and stop myself from saying any of that. No—I wanted to punch myself in the mouth to shut it. If God whispered in my head, “Offer ten years of your life and I’ll turn time back five minutes,” I would nod without hesitation.
But miracles like that didn’t happen in the reality I lived in.
“But……. Wooju-chan…?”
“……Yeah? What is it?”
“You said you didn’t remember even when I asked, but you actually remembered that promise, didn’t you……?”
“Huh? What promise?”
“The promise that when we grow up, you and I would get married……”
Aki had just said the absolute last thing I wanted to hear right now.
“……Ugh.”
I clamped my mouth shut. I couldn’t think of a single thing to say to Aki, who was grinning from ear to ear. Honestly, nothing I said would have worked anyway.
“Hey, Wooju-chan, do you want to marry me when we grow up…?”
“…….”
Her smile was obviously meant to tease me. My fist tightened on its own. I wanted to punch myself for ever saying something like that.
“Hm? Come on, Wooju-chan, say it. Do you want to marry me? Yes or yes?”
“……Stop it, Aki.”
“Why~? I’m curious. You want to marry Aki, right? Hm? Tell me—do you want to marry me? And kiss too, hm? Hmmm~?”
“Stop it…! Please, just stop already……!”
“……And that’s what happened, Yuna-sensei.”
Sip, sip—. Aki drank her orange juice and lightly licked the corner of her lips.
“Hmm, I see……”
Having heard the full story of what had just occurred—something that would almost certainly become Wooju’s black history—their tutor, the college student Kim Yuna, nodded while picking up a cookie from the snack plate.
“Sounds like Wooju really likes you, Aki.”
“……Right? Wooju-chan does like me a lot.”
Aki cleared her throat with an obviously fake cough, pretending to be indifferent. To anyone watching from the outside, it was painfully obvious, so Kim Yuna couldn’t help but chuckle as she watched her.
……How cute.
Maybe it was because she was only fourteen, but the way Aki immediately started bragging the moment Wooju left on an errand for his mom was incredibly adorable.
“Then what about you, Aki?”
“Huh? Me?”
“You said Wooju likes you, but do you not like him back?”
Aki’s hand, reaching for the orange juice, froze mid-air.
“……Ah, well.”
Her face screamed that she was flustered. After a moment she moved like a rusty robot, mechanically picking up the glass.
“If we’re talking like or dislike, of course I like him.”
“Not like that. I mean rationally. Not like, but love. Ah, never mind. Since you’re half Japanese and half French… Hmm, is it ai or amour?”
“Yuna-sensei, both of those words mean love……”
“Oh, they do? Sorry~”
Kim Yuna smiled warmly.
Ah, that didn’t work.
“But you got the general idea, right? I won’t tell Wooju. So which one is it for you?”
“……Love.”
“Oh my!”
“The one closer to like, though…?”
“……Huh? What does that mean? If it’s like then it’s like, if it’s love then it’s love.”
“I-I don’t know. I’m not sure either……”
Aki’s face turned slightly red as she avoided Kim Yuna’s eyes. Watching her dodge the question, a mischievous idea popped into Yuna’s head.
“……Oh, really?”
She rested both elbows on the low table, laced her fingers together, and propped her chin on them.
“Sensei loves Wooju, you know~?”
“……?!”
Aki’s eyes flew wide open.
“W-what did you just say? Yuna-sensei with Wooju-chan…? Why? Why?!”
“Why? He’s handsome, isn’t he? Polite, cute, diligent, great at studying. He’s perfect husband material.”
“N-no way…! B-but. You’re a college student, Yuna-sensei. There’s a seven-year age gap……!”
“Yeah, so I’m not planning to do anything right now.”
“R-right?! Wooju-chan is way too young for you. And you can date lots of other guys—”
“But after six years or so, it should be fine, right? In six years Wooju will be twenty and I’ll be twenty-seven. No problem then, is there?”
“……Th-that won’t do!”
Aki raised her voice without thinking. Kim Yuna hid her smile, pleased her provocation had landed, and tilted her head with an innocent expression.
“Hm? What was that?”
“I said no. Wooju-chan isn’t…… the kind of boy you think he is!”
“Not the kind of boy I think? What’s wrong with him?”
“Wooju-chan is…… Well, first of all, he’s not nearly as polite as he looks! He’s not that cute, either! And he’s not diligent at all, so on weekends I have to go wake him up, and also, and also…!”
Completely taken in by the light teasing, Aki was desperately racking her brain to badmouth Wooju, who wasn’t even present. Kim Yuna watched her with a fond smile, then suddenly looked behind Aki and flinched.
“Oh my, Wooju?”
“……!”
Goosebumps instantly prickled across the back of Aki’s neck.
He definitely said he was running an errand for his mom…?!
He had told her it would take at least twenty minutes and that she should relax until he got back—that had been only five minutes ago. How was he back already? Aki’s mind spun as she tried to find a way to fix this. But no good excuse came to her in such a short time.
F-for now, let’s just apologize…
She decided to say sorry first without any other excuses.
“W-Wooju-chan! I’m sorry, I was only for a mome—”
She whipped her head around, but……
“Huh…?”
There was no one in the direction Kim Yuna had been looking.
“Sorry, it was a joke~”
“……Ah.”
So it really had been a joke. Realizing there was no Wooju behind her, all the strength left Aki’s body and she flopped down.
“What the heck, you scared me, Yuna-sensei……”
“Sorry, sorry. But our Aki, it looks like you’re paying a ton of attention to Wooju while pretending not to, huh?”
“Of course I pay attention!”
“Really? Why? Why do you pay attention?”
“Hmph, I don’t know. I’m not talking about this with you anymore, Yuna-sensei…!”
“Oh? Then is it okay if I date Wooju later?”
“Th-that’s a completely different issue! And I already told you. Wooju-chan is way more insincere than you think—”
“……Huh?”
This time Kim Yuna’s expression froze for real. Aki thought she was joking again and was about to snap back, but—
“Hey, Wooju. Don’t misunderstand, just listen to me. Aki didn’t mean any of those things seriously. She just misunderstood what I told her to say, okay? So please don’t get angry……”
Seeing Kim Yuna staring at the door with genuine panic and babbling, Aki immediately realized.
This time it wasn’t a joke.
“W-Wooju-chan…!”
Goosebumps raced down Aki’s spine as she spun around.
“……Huh?”
Once again, there was no one there. Aki whipped back toward Kim Yuna. The older girl stuck her tongue out playfully.
“Sorry, I was kidding♡”
“……Ah, seriously, Yuna-senseeeeei—!!”