7 – Episode 7
When I returned to the class, a few boys surrounded me.
“You have to explain yourself.”
“What.. what do you mean?”
The kids’ eyes were full of murderous intent, so I backed away as much as I could and asked.
“Why did the queen sit with you?”
“Why did the queen treat you kindly?”
“And.. why did that become a rumor to everyone?”
The last one seemed to give me a chance to explain, but
“Will you.. accept your punishment?!”
I said that and ran away.
“Get him!!”
My goodness, was Seo-ah’s popularity that strong? Even the kids from other classes tried to kill me when they heard that I was the guy who was with Seo-ah, and the girls looked at us like we were weirdos.
I felt very wronged.
“You should have known the topic”
“But I didn’t go, okay?”
“Tsk tsk, what’s the use of the truth when the public has already turned their backs on you”
Who are they to turn their backs on me
“By the way, what’s really going on? Don’t tell me you’re dating the queen..without me knowing?!”
I shook my head and said no.
“Then what is it? The queen..no, Yoon Seo-ah has never been so friendly with anyone else”
As Seok-ho said, Seo-ah had not made any connections with people until now. Rather, she kept away from others and acted aloof, like a flower on a cliff that was not friendly to anyone.
Of course, if that was Seo-ah’s personality.. I could say no.
Seo-ah had lived in an environment where it was hard to trust people, and there were more people who slandered her behind her back, so she isolated herself even more.
But.. Seo-ah is so different now
At first, I was doubtful, but now I can say for sure that Seo-ah is not the same as the Seo-ah I knew then
Then… does Seo-ah feel the same way as me..
“Hey!”
“Huh?! What why”
“What do you mean, I asked you”
What did he ask.. oh right
He asked me why Seo-ah was suddenly acting like that towards me.
“Um..”
Honestly, I’m not sure of the answer, and even if the answer is what I think it is, Seok-ho won’t believe me.
But as I answered Seokho, I thought to myself on the other hand.
If Seoa was different now, would she accept me if I confessed.. that kind of thought
“Come on! There’s not much time left for the exam period, so remember that if you play and eat as usual, you’ll have to work three or four times harder later.”
The school ended with the teacher’s nagging. At the same time, I started to get nervous as I dropped my legs.
Seoa will be here soon.
The class was over, the closing ceremony was over, and now the kids who were cleaning started to take out the cleaning supplies.
“…”
Is Seoa coming after it’s over.. Is it now or not.. Seoa’s class ended one minute earlier than ours because the teacher finished the closing ceremony quickly.
“Hey!!”
I was sitting quietly at my desk, thinking about something useless, when someone shouted at me and I looked up.
“Hey you!”
“Uh..uh?”
As I looked up, Seokho was smiling in front of me.
“Aren’t you going first today?”
“..?”
When I asked what he was talking about, Seokho sighed and Hyunsik chimed in from the side.
“You usually left as soon as the teacher finished talking.”
Lately, I’ve been worrying about seeing Seoa and going to see her at the time she finished, but unfortunately I couldn’t see her every time.
“I’m fine today.”
“Suddenly? What did you do before that?”
“I was busy.. just”
I wasn’t really busy, I just went to see Seo-a, though I never saw her
Seok-ho didn’t ask any more and asked something else.
“Really? Then do you want to go out with me?”
I declined Seok-ho’s offer.
“Hey~ do I have to beg you like last time?”
“No, this time I really have a reason to stay”
I swallowed the words that Seo-a told me to stay.
“Really? That’s strange. Anyway, bye”
“See you tomorrow”
That’s how Seok-ho left with his friends, and I waited for Seo-a while helping the kids clean.
Maybe it was because they always left early, but the kids took longer to clean than I thought. Or maybe it was just that time didn’t pass
That’s how the last friend finished cleaning and
“Uh.. are you still here?”
We didn’t talk much, but he was curious why I was still here and asked me.
“That’s because a friend said he would come here.. hahahaha he’s a little.. late. Give me the key, I’ll lock up and go”
“Um.. I guess it doesn’t matter. I’m going. See you tomorrow”
“Uh.. yeah”
I sent the last friend away and sat on the chair as it was and a little later
Clatter
“Is there.. no one left?”
Seo-a, who quietly entered and looked around
“Puff.. no, come in quickly”
If you want to check if there is anyone inside, you should check from outside, not from the door, sticking your face out
I thought so, and Seo-a seemed to think the same, as she came in with a smile.
“Where should I sit?”
As she said that, standing by the window where the sunset was, she looked very beautiful.
How nice it would be if I could express my feelings to her now, I thought as I sat down with Seo-a.
“This is my seat”
“Oh? It’s quite clean?”
I usually don’t put all the books under the desk, but only take out the books for today’s class from the locker or the bag, so my desk was always empty after class.
“Because I put them all in the locker”
“..Locker”
Seo-a muttered something as she looked at the locker, and then our eyes met.
Then she hesitated and took out a book.
I saw that and took out a book as well.
“Where.. was the place you didn’t know earlier?”
“Ah, here”
I pointed with my finger and Seo-a nodded.
And then she explained one by one, but for some reason, I heard her voice but I couldn’t focus on what she was saying.
“So..um, are you listening??”
“Huh? Oh..yeah, I’m listening”
“Really? Then try solving this problem”
Seo-ah took my physics workbook and quickly skimmed through it and picked a problem for me.
“Uh..um”
The answer didn’t say all, but why did I feel like two of them were correct?
“Um..4?”
I chose one of 2 and 4, and Seo-ah looked at the problem for a moment and then
Snap
“Ow!”
“You got it wrong. How can A be faster in relative time velocity when C is faster?”
???
“No..I was confused with 3”
“Don’t lie”
Seo-ah was firm and I agreed.
“That’s why I have to teach you every day, huh?”
I blinked at that. Every day..? Maybe that would be nice?
“So focus again. Now, what I explained earlier was…”
Seo-ah really tried hard to teach me physics for my sake.
“Ah..”
And they gradually got closer until their shoulders touched.
They pulled away and looked at each other, then lowered their heads.
It was.. a bit embarrassing. Maybe it was because Seo-a was wearing a school uniform. It felt like they were doing something.. they shouldn’t.
They repeated this cycle of getting close and apart, while listening attentively to Seo-a’s lesson.
“Thank you.”
About an hour had passed like this? It was time to leave the school and they folded and organized their books.
“No, thank you! I wanted to teach you.. I’m really grateful for what you did for me that day.”
Seo-a must have approached me because she remembered the time I helped her.
“No, I just helped you because you looked in danger.”
I said it as if it was a natural thing to do. Well, it was, but
“…Every day.”
“What?”
“Nothing!”
“Uh.. okay.”
It felt like they were not on the same page..
“Let’s go. We’ll get in trouble if we stay longer.”
Well, they wouldn’t get in trouble, but they would get scolded to leave quickly. They packed their stuff and headed to the school gate.
“The sunset is already gone.”
Ever since I came to high school, I felt like I saw the sunset almost every day.
If it was the old me, I would have stayed at home and played games or watched animations. But lately, I only wandered around Seo-a’s village, so the way home was always after the sunset.
“Um.. excuse me”
“Ah! Yeah, bye Seo-ah, see you tomorrow?”
I casually said see you tomorrow, but the only times I could see her were when we coincidentally ran into each other and during the online classes.
I had a feeling that I wanted to confess to her right now, but
“…”
I couldn’t let her see my emotions because of her bright face and a hint of tiredness, and also because of her family situation that was not good with others.
“Hey!”
Then Seo-ah called me and I turned around.
“Yeah?”
“You know, I really like you”
But then she suddenly came up to me and said that.
Like..wait, that means
“So, how about you and me”
Is this what I think it is..
“Let’s be friends”
“Wha..friends?”
Friends? Not a confession?
“Huh?”
Seo-ah looked at me blankly and asked.
“No..no, it’s not that, but why so suddenly?”
“Why? Don’t you want to be friends with me~?”
I was startled and flustered, but I didn’t hate it at all.
“Uh..no, I was just surprised”
“Pfft! Is it that surprising to be friends?”
If I’m friends with you, the other kids will be surprised, especially the boys, very much
“Anyway, you accept it, right?”
“Huh? Yeah, let’s be fri..friends”
We didn’t shake hands, but we nodded at each other and smiled.
“Then.. see you tomorrow, Seo-ah”
“You too.. Ji-hoon”
I sent off Seo-ah, who looked a bit regretful, and I returned home with a very light step, as if I could fly in the sky right now
“I’m home!”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Good, come on in. Did you have something good happen? You haven’t smiled much lately”
“Yes! It’s a great thing”
“Really? Did some girl confess to you or something?”
“…no, but it’s a good thing”
Because I was able to get a little closer to her