Side story 3 Twenty-Five
It was dark outside by the time the lecture ended. On the way home after work, I felt disappointed that the day was over, but if it was after school, it wasn’t so bad. I straightened my bag strap, which was slipping from the wind, and started walking.
“Oppa!”
“Jiho.”
I turned around at the familiar voices calling out to me. Lee Jooyeon and Kang Wonwoo walked side by side.
“Did you have dinner? Do you want to join us?”
I checked my watch. I was a bit hungry, and since Yeon Woojeong said he might be late today, I guessed it wasn’t bad to eat first before going home. As I nodded, Lee Jooyeon moved into the center and linked our arms. I took my hand out of my pocket, unlinking our arms, and she cast me an aside glance.
“Ha, mysophobic.”
I had told her numerous times that I wasn’t mysophobic, but she always ignored it, so I gave up on correcting her. While, in fact, I wasn’t mysophobic, it unexpectedly had its own convenience. When I avoided someone if they touched me, Lee Jooyeon would voluntarily ease the air, making a joke that I had mysophobia and needed to wash my hands.
“What will we eat?”
“How about skewers? Chicken skewers? With beer.”
Skewers? Not bad. I nodded, matching my slightly faster pace to the two next to me.
The restaurant was not far from the campus. It was a little shabby on the outside as if it had been around for a long time, but the inside was neat. We put our heads together, looked at the menu, and placed our orders. Soon, two beers were served in front of them and a lemon-lime soda was in front of me.
“Argh, did you guys understand the last class? I was really sleepy.”
“Professor Seo’s voice is practically a lullaby. Hearing it during the day makes you sleepy, and at night, it brings you death.”
I nodded in agreement. If it was an online lecture, I could have listened to it at double speed since his speech was slow and quiet. The topic was difficult and hard to follow if I wasn’t paying attention, and when my mind wandered, I remembered the tuition fee. I had paid a lot of money to learn, so I couldn’t just waste it. And I deliberately worked harder at my notes to make the calluses on my middle finger settle down.
As I sipped my soda, I looked at my left hand. I was disappointed that I had a different dominant hand from Yeon Woojeong’s, but it wasn’t so bad because I could hold his hand when we stood side by side.
“Ah, I have a club meeting tomorrow. I’m so tired.”
“It’s nice to be young. Work, campus, and club.”
“Well, it’s now or never. Wonwoo Oppa doesn’t have time for it, but how about you, Jiho Oppa? Did you join one?”
Club? I was invited to join a few when I first enrolled, but I wasn’t interested. The time to join had passed, and now I was less inclined to try new things just because I hadn’t done them before. I filtered out things that I knew wouldn’t work for me. I had already spent less time with Yeon Woojeong because I attended school, and I didn’t want to waste time on that.
“No.”
“That’s a shame. You should feel sorry, Oppa.”
“For whom?”
“The freshmen. You know, everyone has their dream seniors in the clubs.”
A server came with our skewers, drowning out Lee Jooyeon’s voice. I turned my head, scanning the plates placed on our table, and Lee Jooyeon grumbled.
“You really light up only when there’s food. What a waste of that face, what a waste.”
“Why are you so harsh on Jiho? It’s customary for a senior to be reserved.”
“He’s not only reserved but an outsider.”
“Hey, he’s hanging out with us, so why is he an outsider? You know what, you’re deceiving the true outsiders.”
While the two were busy chattering, I shared the skewers in front of them. I didn’t like to talk a lot in front of food. Fortunately, the two immediately stopped talking and picked up their skewers.
“Come on, cheers.”
Hearing Kang Wonwoo’s words, I touched the end of my skewer to theirs and then brought it to my mouth. The moderately spicy and savory chicken melted in my mouth. It was delicious. The flavor wasn’t too overpowering, so it was perfect for Yeon Woojeong’s taste buds. Maybe I should get some takeout. This would pair well with his beers.
“If these get cold, can I just heat them up in the microwave?”
“It would taste better if you heat these up in the frying pan or air fryer than the microwave.”
Speaking of air fryers, we got one in the winter last year. If it tasted the same as it did now when reheated with that, it would be a good idea to bring some home.
“Why? You want to take this home?”
“Yes. I’ll get some takeout later.”
“You’re not hiding anyone in your house, are you?”
“Hiding who?”
“I mean, you’re just like a filial son, which is hard to find these days.”
In essence, Yeon Woojeong was doing well. It seemed that Kang Wonwoo said that because I always went home early and bought something home. Next to him, Lee Jooyeon pointed out that I looked like a filial son in comparison because Kang Wonwoo was an undutiful son.
“I guess I should take some home for my mom too. This place is good.”
“Right? This is a restaurant loved by all generations.”
“Oh, Wonwoo Oppa, your comment just now…”
“What?”
“Smell like a fossil a bit.”
Fossil? What do fossils smell like? I finished chewing the meat in my mouth and asked.
“What kind of smell is that?”
“Eh? The smell doesn’t matter; it basically means he’s like a fossil.”
“Why fossil?”
Lee Jooyeon blinked her eyes and sighed at my question. I frowned, wondering if the meaning was bad, and she chewed on the wooden skewer like a toothpick, staring at me.
“Oppa, you know… you also look like a fossil. Does your girlfriend never tell you that you’re boring?”
“No.”
“How much younger is she than you?”
“Older.”
“Sorry, what? She’s older?”
Lee Jooyeon opened her eyes wide. What’s so surprising about that? But even Kang Wonwoo looked at me amusingly, saying he didn’t know about that either.
When we were just getting to know each other, they brought up the subject of blind dates, so I immediately told them I was dating someone. After that, they would naturally ask me when talking about lovers, but I didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone about Yeon Woojeong, so I kept it to a minimum, and apparently, they didn’t even know this basic thing.
“How much older is she?”
As soon as I answered the question, the meat that had been chewed jumped out of Kang Wonwoo’s mouth. Ugh, gross. I pulled out a tissue and held it out to him, and he covered his mouth with it.
“Gak, gasp, ah…”
“Wow, wow, Oppa! What’s with you? You’re quiet, but a total player, eh?”
“Dude… Wow, you…”
The way they were staring at me was a foreshadowing of future trouble. I pulled the meat off the skewer and stuffed it into my mouth to stop the barrage of questions. As I chewed slowly, their bombardment of questions died down.
“What kind of woman is that big sis? I’m curious.”
“Don’t you think he has a high standard?”
“No wonder you’re usually reserved, Oppa. You must have acted cute in front of her a lot, aren’t you?”
I suddenly missed Yeon Woojeong, though it wasn’t a new thing. I realized I’d forgotten to contact him, so I sent him a quick text. He was probably with someone else right now, so I doubted he’d see it.
“I’ll eat it all if you don’t.”
I looked straight at Kang Wonwoo, warning him, and he smacked his lips before grabbing a skewer. Lee Jooyeon, who ate as well as I did, hurriedly shoved the meat into her mouth. Just like that, I escaped from questioning hell.
The conversation soon turned to assignments and exams. It was okay now that I had gotten used to it, but at first, it was very hard to balance work and study. As a result, my first exam didn’t go as well as I thought it would, but it was comforting to hear Yeon Woojeong’s score. He must have played a lot when he was a freshman.
Everyone had to work the next day, so they stopped at one glass of beer. Before leaving, I ordered some skewers to go. As soon as the skewers were ready, we got up and left. Kang Wonwoo followed his substitute driver, leaving Lee Jooyeon and me alone.