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~🍬🍬🍬~
[Kim Gu-cheon]
“Yes, Eomma. I know. I’m just getting some stuff at the convenience store right now. No-”
Gu-cheon pauses and stops walking, unable to do anything other than listen as the woman on the other side of the call continues talking.
“No, I’m not just eating junk. My fridge is jam-packed with every side dish in the world, thanks to you. It’s been a long day, I just didn’t want to think too much about cooking when I got back home,” He sighs, but he can't help the fondness that slips into his tone.
“If you say so. I just worry about you, you know? I miss you so much already.”
Gu-cheon smiles. “I know, Eomma. But I’m fine. And I miss you too. I won’t stay out long so don’t worry. I’ll be in and out.”
“Okay but text me when you’re back home, hm? I love you.”
“Yes, Eomma. I will. Love you too. Bye.”
“Bye, my baby.”
Gu-cheon sighs as he hangs up, the smile on his face lingering for a while longer. His feet move to carry him towards the entrance of the convenience store, but before he can get there-
“Jagiya!”
The yell is sudden and jarring, distinctly female at first impression. But before he can even look up, there’s the sound of running and then someone is crashing into him and grabbing onto his arm. He looks down in confusion, only to see the top of a head of long dark hair. He stares wide-eyed, before realizing that he should probably say something.
“Um, excuse me but-”
“Please play along.”
The plea comes out as a hushed whisper, the voice of the young lady so quiet he may not have heard if she wasn’t practically pressed up against his side. That’s when he realises that the smaller hands gripping his arm so tightly are trembling ever so slightly. The gears in his brain start to turn.
Looking up, he starts to assess the area for anything strange. And almost immediately, in an area where the dim streetlight doesn’t quite reach, he spots the shadow of a figure trying to hide behind a wall where she rushed over from.
Ah. So that’s what it is.
His jaw clenches for a split second, but he quickly acts.
“You’re here? Are you finally done for the day? I was just getting us some snacks for later.” he says out loud, in case the person can hear.
He feels the lady jolt at that, but he doesn’t have time to talk to her while they’re still outside. He’s already wrapping an arm around her shoulders and hurrying them both into the convenience store.
Once they're inside, Gu-cheon pulls her away from the windows and further into the closest aisle, before standing in front of her to block any view of her from outside. After making sure there’s no-one following them, he finally huffs in relief before turning back to her. That’s when he realizes how close he’s been holding her.
“Ah- sorry,” he says, quickly letting go of her and taking a couple of steps back away from her.
Once there’s some good space between them, and with the distance and in proper lighting, he can finally get a good look at her. She’s much shorter than him, the top of her head only reaching his chin. Pretty too. But the longer he looks, the more she looks familiar. Belatedly, he realizes that he’s been seeing her around on campus, but he’s not sure he knows her name. Either way, that’s not the priority now.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he asks, his eyes scanning over her quickly.
She blinks up at him, taking a deep breath to gather her composure. Then she clears her throat.
“No, no. I’m- I’m okay.”
Gu-cheon hums at that, nodding before moving towards the baskets.
“That’s good then,” he says, picking one up before starting to walk through the aisle. “What happened, though? Do you know who it is that’s following you?”
He hears a shuffle behind him, then footsteps as she starts to trail after him.
“How- how did you know someone was following me?”
Gu-cheon doesn’t say anything, just stops and turns to look at her with a blank look. That pulls a huff from her, her initially doe-eyed expression leveling into an exasperated one. Gu-cheon snorts, shifting the basket to the crook of his elbow so that both his hands are free to pick up two different flavours of ramyeon to inspect.
“It’s a long story. You sure you want to hear it?” she says. Gucheon glances at her.
“Damn, he’s not just a random guy?” he asks. She huffs.
“Nope.”
“Aigoo…” He tosses both packs into his basket. “Out with it then.”
It really is a long story, Gu-cheon finds out.
And it starts with the fact that the stalker is a guy she used to be friends with ever since they first met at orientation the previous year.
“We clicked well enough and he knew the university more, something about having some seniors or relatives here, so we shared contacts and hung out quite a bit while I got settled in. And even after that, and I made new friends in my class, we still stayed friends. There was no reason not to, you know?”
“So you guys got close?” Gu-cheon asks. She wrinkles her nose at that.
“Well… he wasn’t like, my best friend. But we were a little close, I guess,” she replies.
“But then?”
She sighs, a weary sound for someone already so young. Gu-cheon kind of feels bad for her.
“But then, during the break, he suddenly confessed to me. Over text.”
The snort that comes from Gucheon is sudden and uncontrollable, making her scowl.
“Yah! I’m being serious!”
“I know! That‘s why it’s so funny. Choosing to do it like that… Aish. I could’ve seen it coming from a mile away. He seems like the cowardly type,” he remarks, still chuckling as he walks slowly towards the snacks aisle.
He hears her scoff. “What? Would you have done it differently?”
“I wouldn’t have waited until the break before doing it over fucking text, that’s for sure,” he replies. “Doing that knowing you wouldn’t see each other for a few more weeks? So he wouldn't have to face you anytime soon? It’s a cop-out. If he had any intention to confess he should’ve just done it in person. Otherwise he should’ve just kept it to himself.”
She hums, walking a few steps ahead of him. He glances over to see her pick up a packet of gummies, looking at it briefly before putting it back.
“Well anyway,” she continues, turning back to him. “I wasn’t interested. And this isn’t my first time being in this position-”
“Ooooh okay-”
“Shush. So I just tried to let him down softly. And at first, he seemed to understand! He even said he was happy to still be friends. So, I thought that was that.”
“But it wasn’t?”
Her expression falters a bit, a hint of sadness flashing. “No. It wasn’t.”
“He started doing this… thing. Slipping these comments into our chats that always rubbed me the wrong way. Basically all “woe-is-me” and “nice guys never finish”. That kind of nonsense. But anytime I would say something about it, he would say he was “just joking”. Which, obviously not. I’m not dumb. But then he would kind of apologize then we’d move on.”
“Sounds draining,” Gu-cheon says. She glances up at him, then half-heartedly shrugs.
“I guess so, in hindsight.”
“But you couldn’t just ghost him, could you?”
“Well, I should have.” Her brows furrow.
“One night, out of nowhere, he just sent me a bunch of texts. Complaints, begging and insults altogether. Just a long crashout in a series of texts. And I didn’t say much. Just answered with “Okay. I see.” and blocked him everywhere.”
Gu-cheon cracks up again at that.
“He deserved that. You did well,” he says through his laughter. The girl cracks a small smile, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets.
“Yeah, well, apparently he didn’t think so. When we got back to school a few days ago, he found me on the way to one of my classes and tried to “explain” that he got drunk and didn’t mean all that,” she narrates, her features twisting in annoyance.
“But, like, are you kidding me? This obviously didn’t come from nowhere. And I told him. That I could tell that he meant every word of the shit he said because he’s already been hinting at feeling that way but lying that they were just jokes.”
She exhales sharply, and Gu-cheon notices how her lips press into a tight line as she remembers the encounter. He stays silent, walking up to her instead. She looks up at him and he holds her gaze for a few seconds… before pointing at the gummies she had been looking at.
“Unrelated but are these good? I’ve never tried this type.”
She blinks, clearly caught off-guard by the change of subject. “Really?”
“Mhm. Hurry and tell me, I’m almost done shopping,” he presses. Her lips loosen into a pout and she reaches for the type she had been looking at.
“They are. They're not as chewy and the flavours are mixed. So you can eat it without getting fed up. Doesn’t leave a weird taste in your mouth either,” she recommends. He hums, then grabs four of them and tosses them in the basket, before starting to walk over to the freezer and drinks section.
“Okay, back to it. What happened after that? Did he leave you alone?”
“Clearly not. I told him that I’d liked being his friend and thought he did too, so we really could’ve made it past the awkwardness if we wanted to. Because that’s just being a decent and respectful human being who actually values a friendship, right? But no, because his fragile ego was just so butt-hurt he couldn’t get over it sober so he had to unleash it while -allegedly- drunk. But I don’t even care if that was true or not at this point anyway.”
She sighs.
“So now, there was no way we could remain friends because I don’t tolerate that kind of disrespect. So I cut it off there and then and moved on.”
Gu-cheon nods, already seeing where this was going.
“But he didn’t?”
“But he didn’t,” she confirms, nodding. “I noticed that suddenly, I’ve been seeing him everywhere. Then my friends said he’d approached them a couple times but they didn’t entertain him.”
“Good friends.”
“Very. So I realized that he’s been tailing me, thinking I haven’t realized. And now, most likely, he wants to find my new apartment since I’m out of the freshman dorms now. So he doesn’t know where I live anymore.”
Gu-cheon stops, his hand on the fridge handle.
“That sounds... plausible. But wait- how did you know it was him following you tonight anyway?”
She scoffs. “The dumbass is wearing a hoodie that I saw him buy from a stall during Student Council Week last semester. I don’t know if he thinks I didn’t see it properly or if I don’t remember it.”
Gu-cheon nods and opens the fridge to get a drink. Then he shuts the fridge and looks at her.
“How are you getting home then?”
“Huh?”
He leans on the fridge and gestures vaguely at the window. “I mean, what if he’s still there when we go out? And tries to follow you again?”
“Oh.” She stops to think. “I just… have to get on the bus and I’ll be fine.”
But Gu-cheon can’t help but frown. “Isn’t the bus stop like, another block away? You can’t walk there alone right now.”
She raises a brow. “So…?”
“So. Let me see you off.”
Her expression shifts skeptically, and he sighs, rolling his eyes.
“Okay, look. I get that, but we can’t be doing this right now. Not when I know what I know now. I can't just let you go alone when the situation is like this. Men aren't shit, I would know. And a guy with a bruised ego? Horrible creature. It's just to make sure you get on the bus safely and he doesn’t follow you. I swear.”
She watches him for a second longer, then her eyes stray to the clock on the wall above them. 9:43pm. She sighs.
“Fine. But only until the bus stop.”
“And you actually get on the bus.”
“Fine!”
He scowls. “Tsk- For someone who needs help right now you’re so adverse to accepting it.”
“For someone offering the help you’re being very annoying about it.”
“Aish-”
“Go check out already, let's go! It’s getting late.”
Gu-cheon rolls his eyes, muttering something about ungrateful and rude kids as he walks over to the cashier to pay for his stuff. Soon, he’s taking his bagged items and turning back to her.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Gu-cheon takes a quick glance around the moment they step outside.
“I don’t see him anymore,” he mutters, only loud enough for her to hear. Her hand comes up to grip the sleeve of the hand he’s holding the groceries in.
“You’re sure? Then maybe I can just go alone...”
Gu-cheon glances down at her hand still gripping his sleeve, then back up at her face. Her eyes are darting every which way, searching the shadows for anything or anyone they may have missed. He sighs.
“Yah. Let's just stick to the plan, okay? You can never be too safe,” he tells her. That makes her look back at him with eyes slightly wide with how on edge she is.
Gu-cheon feels a pang of sympathy in his chest. Wordlessly, he moves the groceries to his other hand, then reaches up to take hers properly.
“Is this okay?” he asks her, his grip loose in case it isn't. She looks down at their clasped hands for a moment before nodding. He hums.
“Bear with me for a little longer, then.”
She doesn’t reply, only adjusting her shoulder bag and tightening her grip on his hand.
After one more furtive glance around them, Gu-cheon leads her away from the convenience store and towards the bus stop. They hold hands all the way there, with Gu-cheon keeping an eye out for any suspicious figures the entire time. The girl’s hand in his slowly loses its tension as they keep moving, but she still sticks close.
Soon, there’s the welcome sight of the fluorescent light of the bus stop, with no-one there but two middle-aged looking ladies in office clothes under thick coats. The two college students mumble a greeting to the two women before Gu-cheon leads the girl to sit at the very end of the bench, sitting between her and the others. She sits with a sigh, shoving her hands in her jacket and leaning her head back.
“Guess he took the hint, then?” Gu-cheon mumbles under his breath, sitting up straight. She hums.
“Hope so.”
Nodding, Gu-cheon then opens up the plastic bag and rummages through. He pulls out one of the packets of gummies she recommended and rips it open before popping one in his mouth.
“Mm. Not bad,” he remarks, making her turn to him. He holds out the open packet to her.
She mumbles a thanks and reaches out to take a piece, but he just pushes the whole thing into her hand. The corner of her lips twitch up as she stares at him, but Gu-cheon quickly looks away before he starts feeling embarrassed. She doesn’t say anything else, leaning her head back again and closing her eyes this time. But the packet sits open in her hand, gradually depleted by both of them as they wait for the bus to arrive.
By the time the bus appears down the road, Gu-cheon has to nudge the dozing girl awake. She blinks the tiredness out of her eyes before realizing the bus is in, then she’s getting to her feet. Gucheon follows her up.
“You okay?” he asks as she adjusts her bag.
She nods up at him, taking a deep breathing. The bus pulls up at that moment, practically empty except for one or two other passengers Gu-cheon can see. The doors open with a screech, louder still in the quiet of the night. She looks at it, then back at him.
“I’ll be going now. Thank you again.”
Gu-cheon nods, then he’s watching her get on after the office women. He steps back, spotting her taking a seat at the window near the front. She catches his eyes from her seat and nods at him, and he mirrors her just as the bus starts to move again. He watches it drive off down the road, getting smaller and smaller.
“Aish…” he mumbles, worry still stirring in his gut. “I should’ve just taken her number in case.”
Then he turns around, grabs his stuff, and walks back the way they came and towards his own apartment.
About 20-something minutes later, he’s climbing up the stairs in his apartment building. He yawns as he unlocks his door and shuffles in, already toeing off his shoes. His hoodie is off by the time he ends up at his kitchen area, the bag of groceries landing on the counter with a thud before he makes quick work of sorting everything to its place. Which really just consists of him tossing everything into the pantry cabinet. All that’s left out is one of the ramyeon packs and a drink. And the single remaining packet of gummies he hadn’t even planned to get.
Gu-cheon huffs, tapping the colourful plastic with his finger.
“Didn’t even tell me her name. Rude little thing.”
He goes off to prepare his ramyeon, the packet already placed gently in the cabinet for later.
***
Saeng-gang finally shuffles through her apartment door, dead on her feet as the electronic lock beeps shut behind her. Her shoes are pried off first, placed neatly on the shoe rack next to the door. There’s no sound from anywhere else in the apartment, so she concludes that her roommate has already gone to bed. With a yawn, she makes her way to her room.
Her bag and jacket come off once she’s in, and she reaches into the former to take out her phone charger. That’s when her hand brushes against plastic.
Frowning, she reaches in and grabs whatever it is. What is pulled out are two packets of the same gummies she’d recommended to her impromptu saviour. She stares at the packets for a few moments, processing what she’s looking at. Then-
“What a weird guy,” she scoffs, but she still can’t quite tamp down the smile that curves up her lips.