THE TRANSFER STUDENT

Two Is Better Than One, Pt. 1

The bus journey began in silence.

Byulyi and Seokjin sat beside each other in the bus on the way home for the first time in a long time. They stayed two blocks away from each other, so in the past, taking bus rides home together was kind of their thing.

Everything changed when Jisoo entered Seokjin's life.

But there they were, sitting next to each other once again, in their usual favourite seats - the one just next to the back door for "ease of alighting" as Byulyi had called it.

Byulyi hadn't sat in that seat for ages, because it reminded her of Seokjin.

"It's been long, huh." Seokjin said, after the journey had carried on in silence for about ten minutes. They were one of the only few people in the bus at that time.

"Sure has," Byulyi said half-heartedly.

Seokjin racked his brain for something to say. Anything. "Weather's great today, huh."

"Seokjin, it's literally 30 degrees."

"Right."

Another long silence.

"I feel so bad for Jieun," Seokjin said. "She was such a great girl."

"I know, right."

But Seokjin didn't want to waste any more time. This was his third chance to make up with Byulyi. And three time's always the charm.

"You know," Seokjin said, turning his head to face Byulyi. Their shoulders were already rubbing against each other's - that's how close they were sitting to each other. Seokjin realised that turning his face made him literally 3 inches away from her face if she turned as well, so he turned back hurriedly. "You know, let's just get straight to the point."

"Mm."

"I lied to Jisoo about this so let's settle this quick."

"Sure."

"Can I have a better response?"

"Whoo! Yeah!" Byulyi said in an extremely sacarstic tone.

"Okay, stop." But Seokjin had loosened up a little, thanks to Byulyi's joke. He laughed. "This is serious."

"Can't we just take it lightly? You're making things awkward."

"Fine, fine." Seokjin relaxed his shoulders. "So basically, you know how like a few weeks ago we had this argument?"

"Yeah."

"I wanted to say..." Seokjin swallowed hard. "I'm sorry."

Byulyi side-glanced him. "For what?"

"For everything," Seokjin sighed. "I was being really immature because I was mad that... you broke our friendship first."

"Wow, that sounded more like a personal attack than an apology." Byulyi frowned. "So... am I supposed to apologise too?"

Seokjin raised his eyebrows. "Don't you think I deserve one too?"

"Fine," Byulyi paused to think for a while. "I'm sorry for being extremely considerate to your girlfriend."

Seokjin glared at Byulyi. "That's it?"

"Mmhmm." The corner of Byulyi's mouth twitched.

"Well, then I'm sorry for treasuring our friendship so much!"

"I'm sorry for being so considerate that my intentions were being misunderstood!"

"You- I'm sorry that I was being the best friend anyone can ever have in this world!"