Chapter Text
Hello, this is Sayeon Lee from calculus.
Sent
Sayeon places her phone back face down on her workspace and returns to the half-completed assignment in front of her. Jaeil, Sayeon’s first friend at her new school and a delinquent who seemed to always get involved in fights, suddenly had the greatest idea to exchange numbers with her after two weeks of knowing each other.
“I don’t use my phone that much,” Sayeon had told Jaeil when he first brought it up. “There isn’t really any point in having my number if I seldom check it.”
Jaeil leaned more into the chair he was sitting backwards in, his arms and chin resting on top of Sayeon’s desk. The classroom was empty as it was the end of the school day; students had either filtered out of the building to go home or hang out at cafes or the mall, or they were still in the building for after-school club activities. In Sayeon’s case, she was still in the building to focus on work and to study ahead.
“Come on,” Jaeil drolled. “It’ll be easier for me to get a hold on you while I’m out and about with my other friends. Also, how else can I show you all of the Bobo pictures I take? There’s still so many you haven’t seen yet.”
“I’m sure of that,” Sayeon mumbled at the pencil in her hand.
“Hey, Miss-Top-of-The-School.” Jaeil lifted his head to stare Sayeon head-on.
“There are no rankings yet, it’s only been two—”
“Ah, ah, let me finish.” Straightening his posture, Jaeil cleared his throat. “First of all, you’re the smartest person I know, Lee. There’s no doubt that you’re already first place out of the entirety of this shithole of a school.”
“Language.”
Jaeil ignored her admonishment, but not without giving her a cheeky smile. “Second, it’s nice to have someone to talk to at any time of the day, whenever you want. You don’t have to message me on a daily basis like it’s a requirement, just keep my contact in your phone so you know that I’m available for you to reach out to. So we can talk about stuff, y’know?”
A pause, and Jaeil reached a hand to scratch the nape of his neck. “I guess it’ll also make scheduling our tutoring sessions together easier. I’m still kinda lost on what we’re learning right now.”
Which is what brings Sayeon to her current position of waiting for any sort of slight buzzing to emit from her stagnant device after sending a message to the row of digits Jaeil wrote on a piece of paper ripped from the corner of his own math homework.
Her smartphone vibrates after she finishes writing down a few answers on her sheet. Sayeon flips it over face-up to check the notification.
[Beginning of your conversation with ‘Jaeil’]
Hello, this is Sayeon Lee from calculus.
Yo
What are we being so formal for?
[…]
Confused, Sayeon blinks at her screen and at the flickering, dotted text bubble. Was this not how she was supposed to start a chat conversation? They have known each other for about fourteen days now, which should be more than enough time to drop the polite formalities, Sayeon thinks. She starts typing out a response before Jaeil can finish his.
Apologies. I just wanted to make sure you knew who this number belonged to. You only gave me yours and told me to message it so you could save my contact information from there.
Damn. I don’t remember doing all that
Sayeon’s brows begin to furrow.
Jaeil, is this a prank?
Nah not really
What do you mean by “not really?”
Doesn’t really count as a prank since I’m not Jaeil. Hah, unless this actually was supposed to be a prank and you just got played by this Jaeil dude
I did not get “played” by anyone. This is the number written on the paper he gave me.
Well, sorry, but this is the wrong number. Good luck confronting him about this though lol
I’m sure there isn’t anything to confront him about. This is just a misunderstanding.
Jaeil isn’t great with numbers, so he probably swapped a few and miswrote his contact information.
Righttttt
You guys are in the same calculus class huh
How do you know that?
Replied to: Hello, this is Sayeon Lee from calculus.
This was literally the first thing you wrote dumbass
Sayeon’s grip on her pencil tightens, and her eye twitches. Even though this stranger isn’t Jaeil, they definitely have in common a vulgar vocabulary. She steers the conversation.
What is your name?
Woah why’d this turn into an interrogation all of a sudden
You know my name, so it’s only courtesy to return the favor, stranger.
Yeah no
Where’s the fun in that
Sayeon lets out an exasperated breath that she didn’t realise she was holding.
Are you really going to be doing this?
Do what
I don’t owe you anything, stranger
Besides, it’s not like we’ll ever run into each other in person. I could be like across the world from you rn
You have a point.
[...]
I just don’t know how to feel about a random person having my full name, however.
Okay but to be fair your name is common as fuck. It’s also not like I have your address to ship a bomb to.
…You have a very violent imagination.
Thank you.
Sayeon scoffs. That wasn’t a compliment.
Anyway, tell me about this Jaeil guy. Who is he to you?
Don’t tell me…is he a special friend??
No. We just met two weeks ago. We exchanged information so I can tutor him.
Shucks. Tell him I’m sorry that he got friend-zoned.
That’s if you ever get his real number
I’m not telling him that. Rest assured, what I will tell him is that he gave me the wrong phone number so you won’t get any messages from me anymore.
As Sayeon moves to shut off her cellphone, it vibrates in her hand with an incessant string of texts.
Waaitittiti no
What if I wanna keep messaging you
My phone’s been dry as hell recently
[...]
Hey, don’t leave me on seen
What could you possibly gain out of this?
Idk. Fun. Entertainment. Probably something you don’t go out of your own way for
The pencil that was in Sayeon’s other hand is now rolling away from her across the forgotten worksheets. She gives the chat bubbles her rapt attention as she tries to figure out what the hell this stranger is trying to accomplish by engaging in conversation with her.
I do know how to do fun things.
Oh yeah? Like what
I like to work ahead or read my class textbooks for entertainment and as a pastime.
Holy shit you’re a nerd
No wonder why you’re tutoring Jaeil
It seems like you’re only insulting me as if you haven’t read a book since middle school.
HAH
You’ve got jokes
Mind you, I am a great and avid reader. I just prefer reading a different medium.
And that is?
Sheet music
Momentarily, this catches Sayeon by surprise.
I didn’t consider you to be the musical type.
Well no shit I’m practically a stranger to you
But yeah if you’ve learned anything about me so far from this, it’s that I like to play piano as a hobby
And that you have a foul mouth.
Are you seriously still on that?
What are you, a goody two-shoes or something?
Go ahead and say your first curse word here. I won’t tell anyone, I promise
You’re being ridiculous.
No, I have cursed before, but only occasionally.
It’s something I have to frequently remind Jaeil of since he uses profanity on the regular.
Jaeil sounds like a pretty cool dude. You should give me his number when you ask him for it again.
I’d rather not have him be influenced by you, despite how similar you two are.
I’m not that bad of a person!! And I was joking anyway
Am I somewhat like this Jaeil guy? That’s…something
You’re way more entertaining than I thought you’d be
Thank you.
Um sure
And weird, I guess
If that’s it, then I’m going to get back to what I was doing before all of this.
Alr whatever you say, Miss Lee
Please don’t call me that. I can’t be any older than you are.
My bad
Lee
I appreciate it.
So how old are you then
I’m 17.
Actually?? Me too
When’s your birthday
November 18.
No way I’m actually older than you by like a month
Surprise, surprise.
I’m leaving now. You’ve already put me behind on my work.
But you said that you work ahead, so technically you’re not behind on anything
You know what I mean, stranger.
Damn right I do lol
Have fun doing whatever the hell is fun to you, I guess
[...]
Also, it was nice talking to you
You’re not so boring after all
Likewise.
Goodbye.
Bye
Seen
Sayeon stares at the end of the chat before pressing the side button to close her phone. The screen goes black, and she’s met with her own reflection. After contemplating for a moment, Sayeon turns the phone back on and opens the chat conversation with the stranger. She presses her finger on Jaeil then edit and erases his name to type a new one.
[You have changed this contact’s name to ‘Not Jaeil’]
Satisfied, Sayeon finally drops the phone and grabs the pencil about to roll off her desk to continue on the work she originally planned to get done ten or fifteen minutes ago.
Had that much time really pass already? Wasted time, at that. If only Sayeon could go back and ignore the stranger’s texts so she wouldn’t be in such a predicament. Yet, she’s unsure if she would’ve done so in the first place. This unknown number was certainly an interesting person, and Sayeon did feel somewhat entertained by their wit and demeanor.
She remembers what Jaeil told her. Maybe he was right about how it’s nice to have someone to talk to whenever. That’s if she does choose to message that number again for whatever reason future Sayeon has.
Only time will tell.