"Are you sure? About everything."
"Well no but I don't think she's the type to lie about that."
Harin was quiet for a while. A heavy look on her face but what confused Minju was how she didn't seem surprised. It felt like what she had told her confirmed something rather than being something new.
Lost in thoughts, the slight buzz from her phone quickly brought her back to reality. Seeing who the message was from, she got slightly annoyed. As much as she didn't want to, she knew it was time.
"Anyway, you should get going."
Although a little shocked to hear that, Harin did nod in agreement. Pushing the chair in, there was a part of her that didn't want to leave because she still hadn't heard what she needed.
...
Oh well. It's stupid anyway.
I guess it didn't really matter.
As her hand wrapped around the door handle, she felt her heartbeat start to quiet down. She thought it was strange, how she'd only noticed it now when it was calm yet didn't seem to realise it had been rapid the whole time.
So that's it—
"Unnie, I'm sorry."
-
Younghee rested her chin on one hand as the other scrolled through her phone. She hadn't gotten a message from Ari ever since the phone call and there was nothing posted to her social media either but it looked like her following count had gone up, and so had her followers.
Since it was a private account, Younghee knew it would have to be the people Ari had met abroad.
Ruling out family and people from school, that's three... no, 4 more.
She was about to go through the accounts before realising someone had been staring at her for a long time, waiting for her to notice.
Younghee blinked in surprise before putting her phone down. "What?"
Nari narrowed her eyes as if accusing her of doing something questionable but decided against saying anything and shook her head instead. She grabbed her laptop out of her bag and kept glancing over to Younghee, all whilst still not speaking until the other finally gave her an impatient look.
"What is it?"
"There's a... group date thing going on later tonight."
"Oh. Are you going?"
Nari nodded.
"Hm, who else is going?"
"The twins, Doyoung, Sooah, I don't know the other people."
That girl again?
A small sigh escaped from Younghee's mouth before she turned back to the lecture. "Make sure you get home safely."
"Will you come get me if I can't?"
"No. Mina wants to go somewhere later."
Nari furrowed her brows. "Mina? Didn't you guys break up?"
"Ah, not that one. Park Mina, you saw her at the fashion show."
"Why are you—" She paused.
What am I doing?
Nari bit her lips, not enough for it to bleed but just enough for it to stop herself from asking any more. If there was one thing she had learnt about Younghee was that to not ask if you didn't want to know.
You hardly even know her and yet you're dating?
Of course, that didn't mean she wasn't going to think about how stupid she thought things were. This was their routine - Younghee going out with someone she'd barely just met and Nari having debates in her own head about how rash it is.
That meant countless debates, in which she tried to reason with herself, over another person's behaviour. Someone she thought she understood. The more it happened however, the more Nari realised she didn't know Younghee at all.
There was one reason that she decided to settle on. Seo Younghee dates people she knows nothing about so there's no attachment when they break things off, and if there's no attachment then there's nothing. No emotions, no regrets, just moving forward. That way, it doesn't hurt. That way, no one's hurt.
Scaredy cat.
-
By the time Nari's last class of the day had finished, the sun had already set and the drop in temperature made her want to rush home and stay in bed for the rest of the day. But she knew she couldn't do that, not with how much work she had to do.
She sipped the freshly brewed cup of tea as she stared at her comfy and way warmer than the rest of the house bed.
Bed.. or no bed...
There's no way I can concentrate if it's this cold
But at the same time if I study in bed I'll just end up falling asleep...
She groaned then set the tea down by her desk. Nari threw a blanket onto her chair before going to grab her bag.
It's fine, let's just finish this quickly and then I can go to sleep.
As much as she wanted to choose comfort over studying, years of living in school dorms had somehow disciplined her into resisting her bed when she had a pile of work to do. At least sometimes anyway.
Nari woke up to the sound of her phone ringing and her pen still gripped tightly in her hands. She rubbed her eyes, moaning as she realised she still hadn't finished her assignments.
Now tired and annoyed, she didn't bother to check the caller before picking up the phone. "Hello?"
"Where are you? It's starting in 15."
"What?"
"The group date... Did you forget?" Minju asked.
"...Maybe."
"Can you still come?"
"Erm.." Nari was about to say no when something in the corner of her eyes caught her attention. "Yeah, I might be a bit late but I'll get there as soon as I can."
Changing into something warmer, she quickly put on her shoes and got ready to leave but hesitated as she got to her front door.
"..."
Nari sighed before taking her shoes off again and going back into her room. On the side of her desk was a pile of law textbooks with a notebook sticking out in between. It was only the corner of the cover but that was enough for Nari to remember the contents of it.
She took a deep breath before pushing it back in, slamming her bedroom door shut behind her before leaving hastily.
The cab stopped before a karaoke club and Nari who had already checked the address five times beforehand still felt the need to check it again.
Ah nope, it really is here.
I'm too tired for this.
She was still in her own thoughts, dreading over the fact she'd chose to come when someone shouted at her.
"Nari, over here!" Doyoung waved at her just as she was about to walk past their room.
"You made it! Early too," Sooah slung her arms around Nari, dragging her in along the way.
Nari's eyes widened as she realised half the people sat around the table was people she didn't know, like at all. Like not even the same university. Realising what position she had put herself in, and how she probably wouldn't be able to get out of it now, she really wished she had just kept walking when Doyoung called out to her.
I should've just said no.
As she expected, the group date was even more boring than a civil law lecture.
This is like that one time Rowan taught me skating.
I mean I know I agreed to it but god why do they make it seem like a punishment?
She sighed to herself before downing the rest of her drink. Unlike Nari who wouldn't wish for anything more than to go home right now, Doyoung seemed to be enjoying the whole thing.
From singing to chatting with his date, he managed to be his usual self which in a way made things a little more comfortable for the others.
Though comparing Nari's experience to his wouldn't be fair, in fact, comparing anyone else's experience to his wouldn't. Sooah, who flat out told the guy sat opposite her she wasn't interested, had left for a smoke break at least thirty minutes ago and still hadn't came back.
Jumin that was set up with a girl that talked even less than he did meant they only spoke about a total of fifteen words to each other since the beginning. At least Minju and her date got along, though not exactly in the way things were intended.
What started off as them chatting out of politeness somehow turned into conversations about their academic achievements and them trashing their school's administration.
Nari on the other hand, found nothing in common to talk about with her date, or maybe too much in common. They had also tried to talk about academia at first but with them being in rival universities and yet the same major meant the topic that had came up first was her department's debate team beating his. From then on, it went downhill. Private school versus private school, top grades versus top grades, athletic but not athletes, youngest out of their siblings - they could've been twins based on how similar their lives were.
Though there was one thing they couldn't agree on. Love.
He was someone that thought keeping things light and casual was the way to go, that dating doesn't need to be with marriage in mind or to last forever and that it was something just for fun. Nari could understand all that, but one thing she could not get past was how open he was about being unfaithful.
"I mean it's like no strings attached until marriage, you know?" He leaned in before speaking in a whisper. "I'm not even supposed to be here right now but no one knows about the new girl I'm dating so."
She scrunched her nose up before rolling her eyes. "And you think bragging about cheating would make you, what, appealing? Attractive?"
"It's not cheating, it's just a group date. Nothing serious."
"Yeah, because it's with people like you."
"..." It looked like he was about to retaliate but held back instead. Maybe because he'd rather keep his dignity knowing he wouldn't be able to out argue her.
As the karaoke song finished, Doyoung looked around and realised everyone was starting to get tired. After wrapping things up quickly, he was pulled aside by his date as everyone gave them an encouraging 'oooh' for leaving alone.
Stood by the drinks station, a part of him knew things went well but at the same time, he wished it didn't. It wasn't like he acted friendly or nice so she would like him, he was just like that and truth be told, he didn't like her in that sense. He could see her as a friend, he would like her as a friend, but nothing more, just like everyone else.
The only reason he even came to the group date was just to have fun and make new friends.
So when she held her phone out and asked whether or not he wanted to keep in touch, he quickly blocked it.
The figure hiding behind a corner flinched as Doyoung apologised.
"Sorry, I already have someone I like."
What?