The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 44: 'Girlfriend' 4/7

Jake walked out of the classroom into a vacant hallway. All of his fellow students were likely eating their lunch or socialising. For his part Jake was a little flustered. Since arriving at the school he yet to be scolded. That was until today.

Che had taken the opportunity presented by his tardiness to feedback reports from his various teachers. The reports we eerily similar to those he had received back in Australia, that he was kind, quite smart but failed to adequately apply himself. Maybe Jake had to face up to and accept the observation that he was a wet towel that was never properly squeezed and thus retained far too much moisture to be useful.

'Still', Jake thought to himself, 'I could probably push myself a little more'. He mused as to how he would undertake this endeavour as he went to get lunch in the cafeteria. 

Arriving late had its advantages, chiefly,  there was no queue. Going to the dining area, Jake found his table where Sunghoon, Jay and Heeseung were sat. Jay had his hands on the table and he seemed to be directing questions towards Sunghoon, whose face was a bright pink.

Setting his lunch upon the table, Jake was immediately greeted with a question from Heeseung, "Jaeyun - what do you know about Sunghoon's girlfriend?"

The question caught Jake completely off guard and he blinked twice before looking at Sunghoon with a quizzical expression. "Girlfriend?" A devious smile grew across Jake's face and across his mind as he quickly understood the implications. "No, please fill me in?"

Jake watched Sunghoon noticeably gulp but yield no answer. Jay spoke instead, "Why have you gone all silent Sunghoon? You were telling us about how good looking she is, how she makes you a better person..."

"... how you see her in your dreams" Added Heeseung.

Jake couldn't help but smile, keeping his eyes locked with Sunghoon. "You see her in your dreams?" He asked his blushing friend.

"Uh, yeah..." Sunghoon managed to answer, it was obvious he was trying with much difficulty to control the expression of his face.

"And these dreams" Jake continued "what happens in them?"

"Oh uh, just stuff" Sunghoon gave as vague an answer as he could produce.

"What kind of stuff?" Jake asked.

"Um" Sunghoon began.

"Moist things?" Jay asked.

"Wet things?" Heeseung followed up.

Sunghoon kept staring at Jake, they had held eye contact for several moments at this point. Jake saw Sunghoon push his tongue into the bottom part of his cheek and allow himself to grin. Sunghoon then turned to their friends and nodded. "Oh yeah" and raised his eyes.

"Oh, your poor mother!" Jay exclaimed with a concerned tone to his voice.

"Why's my mother poor?" Sunghoon asked him.

"Having to clean up your bed sheets dude, I imagine a kid as pent up as you makes quite the mess" Jay reasoned.

"Okay firstly, that's gross, secondly I'm not a kid and thirdly... well I suppose there is no thirdly" Sunghoon's  answer left him embarrassed.

"Urgh dude, you let your mum clean your dirty sheets? That's grim!" Heeseung said through a laugh.

"Ummm... I'm sure she doesn't notice" Sunghoon said, shyly rubbing the back of his neck - the way, Jake had come to recognise, he did when he was awkward.

"Trust me, she will" Jake said with a wink at Sunghoon. "But back to your girlfriend - how did you two meet?"

"Well" Sunghoon began, leaning towards the table, "I had just walked Yeji to meet some of her friends at the cinema and was walking home through a park. Anyway, the sky looked like it might rain at any moment but I had some stuff on my mind and so decided to take a scenic route through the park. I came across a small foot bridge where I found this pretty girl in a beautiful dress. She looked like a model from a magazine except she was crying. She looked really sad so I watched her for a bit"