Secrets of Attraction

Fifteen: SUZY

"Suzy, these photos are perfect." Bogum stood over our proposed CJ E&M layout, a rare grin across his face. "I love this one, it's such a standout."

He pointed at the photo of the balloons, the one with the word choice. I'd edit it so the word stood out, and the way the shot was angled, the balloons looked otherworldly in the background. I'd put in a mix of photos in the layout, some student candid shots, the band, and some more esoteric shots. I also snuck in the one of the me, Stephanie, and Yoona, hoping Bogum would be okay with it. He wasn't one of those "Let's make the yearbook photos about the yearbook staff" people.

"Thanks, I think so too."

"I thought these pages would be thrown away, but it's one of my favorite layouts in the book so far. This picture might be a bit much," he said, pointing at the one I'd been worried about. "But maybe I'll let it slide."

She moved on down to the next group of staffers. Stephanie was busy on her laptop, working on some copy for the page on the fall fundraising walk.

"Hey, I forgot to send you something." I attached the picture of her and Jisoo from the dance to an email and hit send. I'd cropped Joohyuk out of her photo but kept the original intact. Every so often I pulled it up and studied it, imagining what he's been witnessing when the photo was taken. I was dying to ask him about it, but the other night at the diner didn't really seem like the proper place. I'd noticed he wasn't wearing that infinity bracelet he used to wear - maybe that had something to do with it? My stomach still turned to jelly whenever I thought of our fingertips touching.

Stephanie gasped. "Soo, I love this picture. I didn't even realize you took it! I'm making it the wallpaper on my phone." Yoona peeked over at Stephanie's laptop and smiled.

"Yes, too bad I didn't have a camera the other night. You can see a lot through a camera, like things people don't want to tell you." Yoona glanced away when I said this, busying herself with more typing.

Steph and I had dished our versions of Saturday night via text all weekend and every day since, but Yoona had remained quiet throughout. And really, out of the three of us, she handsdown had to have the most different version of the night. The most she'd said was that she didn't want to talk about it. We were close to wearing her down, though.

"It can't be that bad," Stephanie whispered, leaning in.

Yoona chewed her bottom lip and moved closer to us, sliding her laptop along to create barrier, under the guise of doing work. She ducked behind it and spoke.

"Nothing happened, okay? That's the embarrassing thing."

"Why did Changwook just leave?" Stephanie asked.

"And were you really cool with it? That's what he told me outside," I said.

She pressed her lips together, maybe trying to keep the story in still, but finally relaxed. "Yes, I was cool with it. Everything was fine when he first got there. We held hands, talked - well, as much as you can talk over the music. He wasn't really into the band and then his friends wanted to leave. They were going to a party that some girls at the bar invited them to."

"He said he asked you to go. Did he?" I wished I could go back to that moment I'd watched Changwook leaving and stick out my foot to trip him.

"Yea, he said I could get a ride home with them, but I wanted to stay with you guys. When he left it was like a whole different night. I tried to make it up front, but the crowd was too much, and those girls from the bachelorette party kind of took me in."

"You should have texted me, I would have found you," Stephanie said.

"I don't know, it was fun being someone different, like, maybe I could be Anna Kris for a night. Anna did blue shots and danced on the bar and completely forgot about Changwook. You know, he's cute, we talk, and I really like him as a running buddy, but there's no . . . magic." When she said magic she brought her hands together and then slowly apart, wiggling her fingers a bit, in what I imagined was supposed to represent sparkly, magical love glitter.