Misunderstanding
"Linky's yummier!"
"Nuh-uh! Pengdoli's yummier!"
"You're both right. So quit fighting, you two."
He walked them out of the store with the cool wash of air-conditioning still clinging to their backs, the two kids bickering over whose drink tasted better. The moment Woo-hyun popped the straws into their mouths, the squabble vanished as if it had never happened. They went quiet, then broke into little giggles, beaming up at him.
Seo Da-eun watched that peaceful little scene without looking away.
"You sure you don't want anything?"
"Yeah. Water's enough for me."
She gave the bottle she always carried a little shake. What was left inside sloshed faintly against the sides.
Soda and sports drinks put weight on you. And for a track athlete, extra weight was fatal—the heavier you got, the slower you ran, no two ways about it. She reached for an electrolyte drink now and then when she desperately needed to hydrate, but most of the time it was the sticky film those things left in her mouth, or maybe just the habit of training itself. Either way, her hand never went to a bottled drink easily.
The kids' playtime was over. It was time to head home so Da-eun could make her training session, and they'd swung by the store first to get something for two thirsty children before they parted ways.
"…"
"What?"
"Nothing."
Da-eun had been watching Seon Woo-hyun steadily. Then she looked away. He glanced at her like she was being weird, but from where she was standing, he was the weird one.
Does he just say stuff like that to anybody? He doesn't even look like he's thinking about it.
The words he'd spoken while they were sitting on that bench were still hovering in the back of her mind. Seo Da-eun had never dated—she'd always been too busy—so she didn't exactly have a wealth of experience to draw on. Even so, there were only two reasons a guy said something like that to a girl.
Either he'd been with so many girls that lines like that just rolled off his tongue… or he had so little experience he couldn't even gauge the distance between them.
…Or maybe he really said it without meaning anything at all.
Honestly, the first time she'd heard it, her whole body had locked up. No one had ever said anything like that to her. She'd gotten her share of blatant once-overs from guys, sure—but the appeals of high school boys who barely knew how to date were clumsy in the extreme. You're pretty. Nice body. I like how hard you work. Comments flung out with no context and no relationship behind them. Most of them were basically confessions, if you wanted to be honest about it.
But Woo-hyun had tossed that line out so naturally, in a moment so ordinary, that she'd nearly short-circuited on the spot.
Was he smooth? Or was he just that innocent?
For a girl who'd had next to nothing in the way of relationships with guys, she had no idea how she was supposed to read it. Even on the track team, the boys and girls were kept separate, so it wasn't as if she'd spent much time talking to them. That straight-line way he had of saying exactly what he thought was unfamiliar to her. In the language girls used with each other, there was always some intent buried in the words, whether you noticed it or not—and so she couldn't help wondering if his words had intent in them too.
No way. Is Seon Woo-hyun hitting on me?
If he wasn't, there was no reason to say something like that. Not to a girl his own age. That she'd make a good wife. That her future husband would be a lucky man. However you turned it over, didn't that mean he was looking at her as a woman?
She'd known for a while that Woo-hyun was interested in girls. He'd even told her, to her face, that the reason he ran was to pick girls up. And when she'd said she'd set him up on a blind date if he finished the race, he'd been over the moon.
If a guy like that said something like that to me… am I just not getting it?
That was the part that worried her. What if this was a signal—Woo-hyun telling her he liked her—and she was so inexperienced she couldn't even recognize it when it was sitting right in front of her?
Of course, it might be too soon for him to actually like me.
It wasn't as if they'd spent some enormous stretch of time together. But it was true that lately, the number of times they'd seen each other had shot up. They'd had real conversations on their runs. Every morning at Yeonseong Stream, at school over lunch, and in the evenings at the kindergarten—they were spending time together at all of them. And now they were even meeting on weekends to take the kids out.
Seo Da-eun had never liked anyone before. But from what she'd heard from the girls around her, it often wasn't some special moment that did it. You just ended up around someone, they started looking pretty good, and you went out. She didn't think high school dating ran all that deep to begin with.
And honestly, it's not like I'm bad-looking.
Someone watching might have called it conceited, but she couldn't pretend she wasn't pretty. Even through your own eyes, there was a certain shared sense of what looked good, and the girls around her told her she was pretty as easily as breathing. She knew from simple comparison that the amount of attention she got from guys was overwhelmingly higher than anyone else's. That was the kind of thing you ended up knowing whether you wanted to or not.
Plus, they always said the thing that makes a guy fall is simpler than you'd think.
Unlike girls. She'd heard that high school boys could like someone just because she was pretty, and that was enough. She'd seen it herself—girls who landed boyfriends on looks alone. So if you went by how much time they'd spent together, and by how she looked… it wouldn't be strange at all if he had feelings for her.
And besides, I have been good to him. That's a fact.
Even she had to admit she'd taken pretty good care of Woo-hyun. She'd helped him up the first time they met, when he'd fallen and gotten hurt. After that, she'd corrected his running form for free, no strings attached. She'd done all of it because she'd wanted to—but she'd never really stopped to think about how he might have taken it.
"So what is it, then?"
"Nothing. I wasn't looking at you. There's just… something over there."
So of course her eyes kept finding him. She couldn't help it. A girl was going to notice a guy who was noticing her—that was just how it worked. And at her age, if someone of the opposite sex liked you, your attention went there whether you wanted it to or not, no matter who they were.
…And then there was the most important part.
Maybe she, too, had started thinking that Seon Woo-hyun wasn't half bad.
He thought like someone older. He had a sense of responsibility. Their hobby lined up, and lately he'd been studying hard, keeping himself together. Watching him with the little ones, he was even domestic. No bluster. No fake swagger. None of that ugly posturing she couldn't stand in some of the other guys.
Honestly, there just aren't guys this decent around me.
If you went down the list one trait at a time, maybe those guys existed somewhere. But a boy who had all of it at once was, if you were being honest, hard to find among students. Add today on top of everything else, and inside Seo Da-eun, Seon Woo-hyun's standing was already sitting pretty high.
"Hyung, this won't open. Open it for me."
"Sure. Give it here."
Min-hyun held out a snack he couldn't get into. Woo-hyun took it with an easy smile, tore the wrapper without a hint of complaint, and handed it right back. Anyone looking would have thought he was a thoroughly decent guy.
Not that I can just ask him if that was flirting… ugh.
A restless, frustrated feeling settled over her. The way he'd been looking at her, the things he'd just said—it felt like there was intent in all of it. And also like there wasn't. If she asked and he said no, she'd just be some girl with a solo case of dokkibyeong, convinced all on her own that he was into her. She couldn't think of anything more mortifying. She didn't have the courage to ask.
She was going to have to look at his face tomorrow morning, at lunch, and again in the evening. If every last one of these thoughts turned out to be something she'd cooked up by herself, Seo Da-eun would never be able to look him in the eye again.
Hahh. Forget it. I'll think about it later.
She looked at Seon Woo-hyun, who didn't appear to have a single thought in his head, and gave up on thinking altogether. She'd have to sit with it more once she got home, or maybe ask someone for advice. This wasn't a conclusion she was going to reach on the spot. He was the first person who'd ever made her worry like this, and she didn't even know where to start. Most guys never made it past her standards to begin with.
She was still wrapping both hands around the problem when someone stopped in front of her.
"Nuna."
It was Min-hyun.
"Hmm?"
"Want this?"
"Oh. Min-hyun, is this for me?"
"Yeah. Your face looked sad. If you eat this, you'll feel better. Does your head hurt, nuna?"
"No, no. Nothing like that. I just have some stuff on my mind."
She couldn't exactly say it's because of your brother, so she shook her head and shook the worry off with it. Right now she needed to focus on the kids, and on the training waiting for her. She could worry about him after that was done.
She put the chocolate snack Min-hyun had offered her in her mouth. A crunch, and then sweetness spreading over her tongue. She didn't particularly like sweet things, but this had been a child's pure kindness, held out just for her. She couldn't turn it down.
"It's good. Thanks, Min-hyun."
"Yeah. Nuna's smiling now."
The little boy smiled back at her, copying her, and she couldn't help it—he was endlessly adorable.
Woo-hyun, who'd been watching from the side, looked over at her.
"I think Min-hyun likes you more than he likes me now."
"That so? Min-hyun, wanna just come live with nuna?"
"Umm…"
"Seon Min-hyun. Don't tell me you're actually thinking about it. Hyung's gonna be really hurt, you know?"
Watching the kid weigh the two of them with complete seriousness, they both burst out laughing. They laughed long enough that, before they knew it, it was time to go their separate ways.
"You guys are that way, right?"
"Yeah. Thanks for today. For hanging out with the kids."
"You too. Get home safe."
The two of them said their goodbyes, and the kids seemed to realize that playtime was over. Their faces drooped.
"Hyung, are we leaving now?"
"Yeah. We gotta go. Nuna has to go train."
Something in Min-hyun's disappointed little voice tugged at her. Ji-ah looked just as reluctant, drawing out a long unnieee… as she stared at the two of them, full of leftover wanting.
Da-eun bent down a little, smoothed a hand over both of their cheeks, and spoke to them gently.
"Yeah. That's all the playing for today. But."
"But?"
"Next time, let's all four of us hang out again. How about it? Sound good?"
"Really?!"
"Yeah. For real."
"For real for real?"
"For real for real for real."
Ji-ah and Woo-hyun, who'd been watching the two of them go back and forth, both started laughing under their breath. Looking at Ji-ah's face, and Min-hyun's, it was obvious that hanging out as a four had been a lot of fun.
…She was glad she'd brought them out today.
Seeing those faces, a warm swell of pride rose in her before she could stop it. She could tell Ji-ah had enjoyed this more than just playing the two of them.
"Ji-ah too. Let's promise."
"Okay. Next time we'll definitely play together again? With Min-hyun… and oppa too?"
"Yeah. It's a promise~!"
And so the four of them hooked their pinkies and made it official.
Only then did Seon Woo-hyun look at Da-eun.
"Alright. I'm actually going now?"
"Yeah. Bye, Seon Woo-hyun. See you tomorrow morning."
They turned and started walking, each pair heading their own way. They hadn't gone far before Ji-ah looked up at Da-eun, smiling.
"I can't wait, unnie."
"Hmm? For what?"
"Hanging out all four of us again."
"Yeah."
Listening to Ji-ah, she realized it herself.
…It wasn't just the kids looking forward to doing this again.
She'd had a pretty good time too.
"Yeah. Unnie's looking forward to it too."
And on the other side of that street, someone with blonde hair was watching the two of them part ways from across the crosswalk.
"…Isn't that Seon Woo-hyun and Seo Da-eun?"