.

Unlike myself having heightened sensory perception, I was out of touch with reality. It felt like I was in my dreamland. I looked around my room and found a chopstick that someone had thrown into my trash can.

We were all together in this room just a while ago. The noisy and friendly atmosphere was still left in some places here. And Yeo Dan oppa and I had been sitting on this bed, leaning at each other against the wall. It’s only been a few hours ago since we all talked and relaxed in this space.

I sat still just listening to the ticking clock. After spending quite some time staying absentminded, I could barely think of calling Lee Mina. Kim Hye Hill was also in a relationship, but Lee Mina and Yoon Jung In had been together for almost two years, so the sense of stability they had was absolutely on another level.

In fact, Kim Hye Hill also reacted the same as me when Lee Mina talked about her boyfriend. Hye Hill didn’t look like she could relate to their situation but tried to understand the things that could happen in a long-term couple.

After listening to the phone call sound for a few seconds, I was about to hang up the call, but that was when Lee Mina picked up the phone.

“Hello,” she answered cheerfully.

“Hi, Mina.”

“Hey! What a coincidence! I was just about to call you! Hey, why aren’t you reading the messages? I had so much to talk about the drama.”

Mina sounded excited to talk to me over the phone, but my silence made her wonder.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Taking a deep breath, I briefly explained the conversation I had with Yeo Dan oppa in the hallway.

Mina replied, “What’s wrong with you guys?”

“Eh?” I questioned.

“I don’t get it.”

Hye Hill and her boyfriend were having a very stable relationship, so she wasn’t the type of person whom I could get some love advice from. Well, Mina and Yoon Jung In also had some problems as a couple since they were the most straightforward people around me.

When the two fought, they almost went insane, but after the big fight, they reconnected dramatically like the craziest couples in movies. While Yeo Dan oppa and I always behaved so cautiously to each other in every situation, this couple just jumped into the huge waves when they thought it was necessary.

While I stayed quiet for a moment, Lee Mina continued her blunt talk.

“Why do you couple always fight for such things that no one would ever argue about? Last time, he didn’t ask you who you met, which made you feel upset and resulted in a fight. In fact, Yeo Dan oppa also wanted to ask you, but he didn’t because he was afraid that it could hurt your feelings. That’s what you told me, right?”

I replied, “Yeah, haha.”

“Geez, both of you are too considerate like those drivers who miss a green light because they let the pedestrians cross first on the walking signal,” continued Mina.

“We’re not there yet…”

“Well, they say birds of a feather flock together, so thank god you two are a couple. In this situation, someone should lead the relationship…”

I repeatedly closed and opened my lips, then quietly asked, “Um, do you also think…”

“Also think what?”

“… Do you also think I have no opinion for myself? For example, Yeo Dan oppa is worrying needlessly about me being unable to do anything on my own.”

Mina replied, “Um… a little? Because you said that if there’s an issue between the two, you try to just move on, and only Yeo Dan oppa is talking about it.”

“Hmm, I see…”

“But oppa seems a bit hard to understand too.”

Listening to her response, I raised my voice. “Eh? Why?”

“We have emotions as humans, so why is it so bad to become envious of others? But oppa feels guilty about himself being jealous. What a distinctive characteristic! Is he just being too nice?” Mina murmured to herself.

Pulling my knees in my arms, I tossed her a question. “Then is it normal to feel jealous in those situations?”

Mina continued nonchalantly, “That’s actually so hard to tell since you and your other friends look particularly too close. Well, you guys have been friends for five years.”

I nodded, “Uh-huh.”

“As a nineteen-year-old girl, you’ve spent a quarter of your life with them, so both you and Yeo Dan oppa are inevitable to feel very differently about your intimate friendship.”

“True.”

“Yoo Chun Young didn’t do anything to your couple, but just being close friends with him had provoked oppa. Oh, but I also kind of understand Yeo Dan oppa because there seems to be something between you and Yoo Chun Young.”

Now, what does that mean? Furrowing my brows, I asked, “There’s something between us?”

“Are you kidding me? Hey, I had no idea about it last year since the three of us didn’t have a class together, but now I see that you two are no joke.”

“About what? I don’t get it.”

Mina sighed, “Ah, this is hard. I’m not sure if I should talk about this when you have a boyfriend… I’m afraid I’m confusing you.”

“Is it that serious?”

After a moment of hesitation, Mina replied, “Um, when you and Yoo Chun Young are together… it seems like only the two of you exist in the world.”

Her remark made my brows meet back in the middle. What the heck is she talking about?

Mina added, “You guys are just gazing into each other’s eyes for the whole time.”

“Come on, how could we do that in the classroom?”

“Uh-uh, you must have seen that.”

Gosh. Not knowing what to respond to, I just disheveled my bangs. Did she just say we were following each other with our eyes? It didn’t make sense… but now that I’d come to think of it, Yoo Chun Young and I often had eye contact. That was when I slowly put down my hand from messing up my bangs.

Was he also watching me at that time until our eyes met? But why…? It sounded like… like… I sat down blankly recalling those moments. Lee Mina’s voice pierced through my ears.

“Uh, I don’t know it either. You know, I’m not that type of person who puts myself in other’s shoes before venting my anger on someone,” said Mina.

“Really?”

“If I were you and Yoon Jung In had a close female friend, I would have just told him about how I felt about the girl if it’s necessary to me. My feelings and thoughts matter to me the most. When I’m dating someone, my boyfriend should put me first at everything he does.”

“Oh…”

“But that oppa feels it as restricting you, which does make sense since unlike me or Yoon Jung In, you don’t really fight back to those things. So later on, you’re likely to follow what Yeo Dan wants you to do, instead of expressing yourself.”

I agreed, “Yeah, that’s right.”

“But I really don’t understand it. Isn’t love a selfish emotion?”

Mina’s last words lingered in my mind. She said love was a selfish thing, but all I could feel was a sense of guilt when thinking about Yeo Dan oppa and our relationship; it seemed like I was disturbing his peaceful life.

I imagined Yeo Dan oppa who’s about to sacrifice some parts of himself for me––but, no, never did I want such a thing. When I told Mina about those thoughts, she couldn’t stand it again.

“See? You guys are being too considerate in your relationship. If all the drivers were like you two, there would never be any car accidents in Korea,” said Mina.

“Come on…”

“Do you know what Yoon Jung In and I fought for lately? It’s because of the pickled radish that comes with fried chicken.”

I asked, “What? How come?”

After listening to their epic story of the chicken and pickled radish, I hung up the call. Putting my phone down on my bed, I slowly breathed in. Lee Mina and I were different in our characters, so her advice didn’t really work for me, but just talking to her over the phone eased my mind and made me calm down.

Yoon Jung In and Lee Mina were indeed so cool even when they’re tackling problems; they overcame difficult situations like nothing with a big smile.

Grinning aimlessly, I shook my head, then resting my chin on my palm, I fell into thought. I opened my contact and searched for a number. After a moment of hesitation, I pressed the call button to dial that number, which I didn’t expect to actually reach out to.

Would it be okay to call him late at night? I waited nervously for the person to pick up the call. Less than three beeps, a cheerful voice answered the phone.