Rendezvous (13)
Compared to the string of disasters that had piled up since morning, the morning classes drifted by in almost eerie quiet.
Yoon Seo-a never once approached me during the lessons, and even when the breaks came she stayed with her circle of followers, chatting among themselves.
Calling them “followers” was almost meaningless—everyone in the class except Shin So-hye and me belonged to that group—but the distinction still stood.
For once I had a stretch of free time without Yoon Seo-a breathing down my neck, yet the feeling was far from pleasant.
First, every time the situation settled into this pattern I felt a faint, unmistakable sense of being left out. Second, I had hoped to use the rare quiet to have a proper conversation with Shin So-hye—until now we had only managed the briefest exchanges—and that attempt had failed completely.
Normally Shin So-hye would startle the moment I spoke, stammer, and still radiate pure delight. Today she seemed to be actively avoiding any real talk with me.
More precisely, she would answer when I tried, but the conversation never continued. A yes, a no, two words at most. She kept glancing sideways the whole time, yet it did not feel as though she had suddenly decided she disliked me. Something else was wrong.
Her stomach must still have been unsettled; she wanted to talk but simply could not manage it. …That had to be it.
I refused to believe that even Shin So-hye had begun to ignore me.
She might have become friends with Yoon Seo-a, but if she started snubbing me while nearly the entire class already followed Seo-a, I really might burst into tears.
I could already picture myself collapsing right there and wailing, “Do you have any idea how hard it’s been because of you?!” Of course I would never actually cry… but the urge would be real.
With that heavy feeling I sat through the rest of the morning, and at last lunchtime arrived.
The moment Senior Officer Maria finished wishing us a pleasant lunch and left the room, Yoon Seo-a rose and walked straight toward my desk.
“Ha-eun, would you care to join me for lunch?”
“Ah… um…”
“Surely you aren’t thinking of refusing? We are friends, after all.”
“Th-that’s right…?”
I wanted to snap that she could eat with her own followers, but I knew that smile would vanish into a blank mask the instant I did, so I answered awkwardly instead.
After the torment of the past few days I had been hoping to spend lunch with Su-ryeon and Chae-rin for a change… While I fretted inwardly, salvation arrived just in time.
“I’m sorry, but Ha-eun already has a prior engagement with us.”
“Su-ryeon…!”
“I ran the whole way the moment I realized this would happen.”
Hong Su-ryeon had appeared at my side before I even noticed. She rested a hand on my shoulder, whispered the words, then turned a bright, pointed smile on Yoon Seo-a.
“So, Yoon Seo-a, would you mind dining with your other friends? Someone of your standing must have no shortage of people eager to share a meal.”
“As Hong Su-ryeon says, there are many who wish to dine with me. Ha-eun is simply one among that number.”
Me? Regardless of my silent protest, Yoon Seo-a stepped right up to the desk, leaned in slightly, and murmured to Su-ryeon.
“And kindly remove your hand from that shoulder. Are you unaware that touching another person’s body without permission is a grave discourtesy?”
“I’ll return those exact words to you. How shameless of you to say such a thing with a straight face.”
So this was what people meant by a refreshing comeback. Hearing Su-ryeon speak the very lines I had been swallowing made something inside me open up with pure relief.
Yet Yoon Seo-a’s expression never flickered. If anything her smile deepened, carrying a distinctly dangerous edge.
“That was a matter already agreed upon between Ha-eun and myself. Someone with no connection to either of us has no grounds to interfere.”
“Ha. You must have reached that agreement so very willingly. No doubt a little threat was involved.”
“If you truly cannot accept it, why not ask Ha-eun herself?”
“…Huh? Me?”
The arrow suddenly swung my way and I blurted the words before I could stop them. Both pairs of eyes were already fixed on me.
“Ha-eun, is what that woman claims true?”
“Ha-eun. Speak freely; there is no need to feel pressured.”
“Uh… uhh…”
As Su-ryeon and Yoon Seo-a took turns addressing me, the room seemed to spin.
It was far too late to dodge by claiming the question was too difficult.
If I had meant to escape, I should have stood the instant Su-ryeon arrived—not remained seated, frozen and helpless.
While I floundered for an answer my gaze met Yoon Seo-a’s. The soft smile in her eyes brought back every word of our conversation in the bathroom.
‘You are not to take anyone’s side. You must remain thoroughly neutral… or else take mine.’
Thoroughly neutral, or Yoon Seo-a’s side.
I swallowed hard and turned to look at Su-ryeon. She gave a small, steady nod, as if telling me not to worry.
Seeing that, I faced forward again and slowly opened my mouth.
“S-Seo-a’s words are correct.”
“…Ha-eun?”
“You heard her. Therefore, would you kindly remove the hand from her shoulder?”
“Kuk…”
Su-ryeon’s face twisted with irritation, yet she obeyed. The sudden emptiness on my shoulder made me shrink in on myself without thinking.
Yoon Seo-a, now visibly triumphant, opened her fan in her usual elegant motion and covered the lower half of her face.
“Still, since we have all gathered like this for once, I think it would be lovely to share a meal and foster a little friendship. What do you say, Hong Su-ryeon?”
“I see no reason whatsoever why I should deepen any friendship with Yoon Seo-a. Nor do I feel the slightest necessity.”
“Hmm. Yet Ha-eun possesses only one body. Surely you are not planning to force her to choose between the two of us?”
Well, I wouldn’t mind either way… Yoon Seo-a’s tone carried the absolute certainty of victory. Above my head a soft, irritated click of the tongue sounded.
The sound stabbed at my conscience and my gaze dropped. Of course Su-ryeon’s mood had soured; I had sided with Yoon Seo-a instead of her.
Feeling like a criminal, I sat quietly. Then a voice I somehow had not noticed until now cut through the tension.
“Just eat together, all of you.”
“Chae-rin?!”
“I couldn’t see your face, so I assumed only Hong Su-ryeon had come. Were you waiting outside?”
“No. I only just arrived. As a commoner I would never dare run through the corridors.”
“Ugh…”
Su-ryeon made a strangled sound as though struck squarely in a sore spot. Yeon Chae-rin stepped forward and addressed Yoon Seo-a.
“We have often seen each other during afternoon classes. I am Yeon Chae-rin of Class 1-B.”
“Oh my. Introducing yourself first today?”
“Yoon Seo-a would already know my name without any introduction.”
“Fufu.”
Yoon Seo-a offered no reply, only a soft laugh.
Chae-rin regarded that laugh with brief contempt, then smoothed her expression and continued.
“Even while the two of you bicker, lunchtime is slipping away. Wouldn’t it be wiser to secure a place to eat?”
“No need to worry on that account. I have already reserved an excellent table for Ha-eun and myself. The two of you are welcome to join us.”
At those words every grotesque dish she had forced on me in the past rose in my memory, and my face went bloodlessly pale.
This time Su-ryeon and Chae-rin would be present as well, so the odds of another nightmare meal were lower—yet the terror had already been learned, and the reaction was automatic.
“Ha-eun? Are you all right? You’re suddenly covered in cold sweat…”
“A-ah. I-I’m fine. Just a little… e-excited…!”
“Excited…? About that?”
I knew the excuse was transparent even as I spoke it. I hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief, wiped my face, stood, and forced every scrap of cheer I could muster into my voice.
“Come on, let’s go! To the restaurant Seo-a reserved!”
“Oh my. I’m delighted you’re so pleased. Are you truly looking forward to it that much?”
“O-of course…! It isn’t just anyone’s reservation—it’s a place Seo-a chose…!”
Of course it was dread rather than anticipation, but if one insisted on calling dread a form of expectation, then yes, I was full of expectation.
I shouted the words as though coughing blood, praying with everything I had that the restaurant Yoon Seo-a had booked would turn out to be ordinary.
Fortunately, the place Yoon Seo-a led us to was a perfectly ordinary restaurant specializing in Western cuisine.
Even so, I knew that a single word from her could still produce something like a whole roasted songbird, so I kept every muscle locked tight until the food actually arrived.
While I sat rigid with tension, Su-ryeon on my right leaned closer and whispered.
“Why are you so tense? It’s just a normal restaurant.”
“Ah, haha… Th-there’s a reason.”
“It can’t be because the place looks expensive…”
To ordinary academy students the prices felt almost free; to commoners they were a mild burden. Still, with the stipend the academy provided, a few meals here would never bankrupt anyone.
Chae-rin sitting opposite was a commoner as well, yet she showed not the slightest sign of unease.
I answered Su-ryeon’s murmur with only an awkward smile.
Meanwhile the finished dishes began to appear one by one in front of us.
“Pasta.”
Exactly as Chae-rin muttered, every plate held pasta.
We had not ordered; we had simply waited for whatever Yoon Seo-a had reserved, so until the plates arrived none of us knew what we would be eating. That was why I had been so tense.
The waiter began his introductions with the dish set before Yoon Seo-a and worked his way around the table.
Amid a stream of talk about cacio e pepe, gricia, guanciale and the rest, the only name I truly recognized was carbonara—and even that tasted nothing like the carbonara I remembered.
Still, I supposed I ought to be grateful it was ordinary food rather than another grotesque experiment.
I was twirling pasta around my fork when, without warning, another fork appeared from my left, a neat coil of noodles already wound around its tines.
I glanced at the fork, then at Yoon Seo-a. She smiled.
“Would you like to try this as well? It is quite delicious.”
“Uh…”
“How freely you violate etiquette, Yoon Seo-a.”
The moment my face showed open distress, Su-ryeon cut in without missing a beat.
Yoon Seo-a only tilted her head as though she could not imagine what the problem might be.
“We are friends. A little breach of etiquette between friends is perfectly natural, is it not? Or is Hong Su-ryeon the sort who maintains rigid formality and distance even with her closest companions?”
“D-distance? What ridiculous nonsense!”
“And among friends, feeding one another like this is the most ordinary thing in the world, you know.”
Since when had that become ordinary? I looked desperately toward Su-ryeon, but she already seemed sunk by Yoon Seo-a’s words; her head was bowed and her shoulders trembled, so no help would come from that quarter.
“Come now, Ha-eun. You wouldn’t leave my arm hanging in mid-air and embarrass me, would you? Please, try it.”
“Th-then… without declining…”
I parted my lips and accepted the bite.
Cacio e pepe, she had called it. After the cream-and-cheese richness of the previous mouthful it tasted almost austere—yet the flavor that bloomed across my tongue was still remarkable.
“H-Ha-eun?”
“Yes? …Huh?”
While I was still chewing, Su-ryeon’s voice called from my other side. I turned and found another fork extended toward me, this one wound with pasta that glowed a deep tomato red. Su-ryeon’s face had turned the same shade.
“W-would you try mine as well?”
“Ah… yes.”
She could not bear to lose to Yoon Seo-a, I realized. Having already accepted one offering, I could not refuse the second. I swallowed everything already in my mouth and took the bite Su-ryeon held out.
The moment I did, I thought I felt her body give a tiny flinch—but perhaps that was only my imagination.