Translation of Love

14

Model

Taeyoung is walking me back to campus. He offered to give me a clean shirt but I refused. He then told me to keep his black shirt again for now since I had no clean shirt to change into, so I walk home in the same clothes as yesterday.

We walk in silence for a bit, but the mood is so much different between us. His hand brushes against mine constantly, our eyes catching side glances of each other, small smiles pushing their way through the wall we try to build.

To fill up the silent yet giddy energy, I asked him about school.

He is in his fourth year, a senior. "So you should call me your 선배님, meaning senior."

"Sunbaenim? Instead of oppa?"

The memories of my sickly sweet voice calling Taeyoung oppa every 5 seconds when drunk makes my cheeks hot. It's just a word, but something about it made me feel strange about saying it aloud.

"Uh," he scratches the back of his neck, clearly a bit nervous.

I smile at him. I think he likes oppa more.

"Whichever you want is fine. You can just call me Taeyoung too..." He trails off.

I then learn that he's in music production. He likes to make music, he says. I guess he uses the keyboard I've seen in their apartment. I wish I got to major in what I wanted, although I wasn't really sure what I'd take if I really did get the chance.

All too soon we reach the front of my dormitory. We stop to face each other, the air getting a bit awkward. Then he grabs my hands, squeezing them, "I have to go. We can meet up tomorrow?"

"Sure." I'm so shy when I say this that I snort out of embarrassment after. He laughs before waving goodbye.

When I turn to the dorm doors, dread falls onto me like an avalanche. I drag my feet as I get inside, scuffling up the stairs and to my room. After I do laundry, shower, and change I feel a bit better, but become bored very easily. This allows for my thoughts to flash back to last night.

"I like you too."

My hands hold my hot cheeks as I squeal. I was never a squealer, yet here I am, acting like a teenager again.

My smile falls when I remember something. Or rather someone.

Koko.

I pull out my dead phone from my bag, plugging my charger in and waiting for it to come back to life. Once it does it begins to vibrate madly.

5 Calls from Koko and 34 messages.

I don't even bother to read them all, instead I just reply with:

S: I'M SORRY FOR LEAVING. I'M OKAY, I'M BACK IN MY ROOM NOW

She responds back asap with:

K: YOU BITCH YOU HAD ME SEARCHING ALL NIGHT

She ends up coming to my room. She immediately pulls me into a very tight hug, her bones basically digging into me, her towering height of 5'8" engulfing me.

"Okay, where the fuck did you go last night?" She begins to interrogate me.

I fill her in on most things. Like me calling Taeyoung and him picking me up. I also include sleeping in his room, but exclude the confession and kiss. Koko has never actually met Taeyoung before, so I decide to keep that a secret for now.