Taehyung
"Namgyu's there too? Heol, daebak," I said on the phone with Yiseo while bursting into laughter. She sounded really nervous and panicked when she said Namgyu joined the camp too.
"Dad, it's not funny! I'm really in a crisis here."
"It'll be fine, Yiseo. You have Soyeon with you, right?"
"Yeah, but she's in the different group and class, while Namgyu's with me all the time!"
I chuckled. "Relax. Just think of him as a friend. Maybe this camp will bring you closer to him."
"You're making me more nervous!" she said. "Anyway, I gotta go, the break time's over. I'll call you later tonight before I go to sleep."
"Alright, hun. Enjoy your night," I said before she ended the call.
I put down my phone and adjusted my seat. "Sorry, it was Yiseo. She was all panicked because her crush apparently joined the camp too."
"It's okay. How is she?" Aiko asked.
"She's great. The camp is to help her apply for colleges," I said. "She's really an ambitious kid. I'm not surprised though, she must've got that from Jihae."
"Ah, your late wife, right?" she said. "Yiseo must remind you a lot of her."
I smiled a little. "Yeah."
She smiled too, then slowly reached for my hand. "You miss her, don't you?"
I put down my glass of wine and took a deep breath. "I do, but my kid is going to college really soon, you know? She's growing up and starting to develop romantic feelings, and either should I, it's time for me to move on."
———
Yiseo
"Hi, girls," he said, "mind if we join you?"
Soyeon and I looked up to see Namgyu and another guy holding a tray of food while waiting for our answer. Before I could say anything, she said yes to them before smirking at me, which was replied by a glare by me.
"Sorry if we interrupt," Namgyu said. "This is Johnny, he goes to Hanwoo."
I could already feel that Soyeon had her eyes set on Johnny. I think he was kind of mixed, hence the name.
"Where are you planning on going?" Soyeon asked, perhaps directed to Johnny.
"Columbia for finance," he said.
"Ooh, finance," she replied with an obvious flirty tone.
Soyeon and Johnny were busy talking to each other, leaving me all nervous with Namgyu.
"You haven't eaten your food," he suddenly said, causing me to startle.
"I'm not that hungry," I said.
"You need to eat. We have other activities we must do after this," he said.
"Hey, Namgyu," I said, "did you receive a message a few weeks ago, perhaps from an unknown number?"
"Um, I don't remember. Why?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Yiseo sent a message to you, dumbass," Soyeon suddenly spoke up, which caused me to quietly curse at her.
"Oh, you did?" he asked. "Sorry. I've never opened any message from unknown numbers, it could be scams and other scary things."
"Why did you message me, by the way?" he asked.
I was about to answer him when Soyeon did it for me. "She wanted to say hi after meeting you at the cinema. Come on, man, catch up!"
"Oh, really? Well then, I'd definitely save your number after this," he said as he smiled, which made me smile too.
———
"Hey, mind if I come in?"
I was about to call my dad when Namgyu suddenly knocked on my door.
"Uh, yeah sure."
He smiled, then he approached me.
"Am I interrupting?"
"No, no. What's up?"
"Nothing," he said as he shrugged. "Your room is next to mine, so I thought I'd come by."
I could hear my heart beat really fast. I was trying not to show him how nervous I was, but instead I did a stupid thing. Falling onto the ground when I was going to put my things into my luggage, for example, only to be caught by him. Geez, this sounded a lot like those Korean dramas I watched with my dad. Ugh, so corny.
"Whoops, are you okay?"
His face was REALLY close to mine as he held my body with his two muscular arms. God, Yiseo, cut it out.
I immediately stood up and laughed it off awkwardly. "Yeah, yeah, I am. Geez, I am such a clumsy fool."
He joined me in laughing. His laugh was definitely music to my ears.
"You're a cool person, Kim Yiseo," he said. "I should go now."
I nodded, then waved him goodbye. Wow, did he just call me cool?
