Chapter 07 : Meeting someone after a long time

"Hi there Jin-ae... Where were you?"

[He seriously came to talk to me!!]

[Jin-ae calm down! You shouldn't panic so much over this.]

I calmed down for a moment and replied,

"Hello Daeshim oppa...Long time no see!"

He was looking right at me and I was loosing my cool. Why wouldn't I? It's someone I used to play when we were kids. The last time I saw him was so long ago and he was not like this. He changed so much. He looks so much like a man now.

"Yeah~ It's been so long.. How are you?" - he said it with a gentle smile on his face.

I blushed, "Yes, I'm doing fine."

I was hesitating... I looked at him and continued, "Umm...I didn't know you came back from military."

- "I returned recently. I went to Busan though. But you and your family were at your grandma's place."

- "Ahh yes, after the result was published we went to see her."

Even if I was there, I doubt I would've met him. I was so anti-social last year that my mom was actually ashamed of me. I wouldn't come out for anyone or anything. If anyone would ask for me, she would say I'm not at home or sleeping. Because even God wouldn't able to convince me to show my face in front of people. In those days, I didn't care for anyone except for myself.

- "Wanna grab something to drink?"

- "Banana milk?"

Daeshim oppa couldn't resist laughing at my stupid answer. Anyway we got banana milk from a cv store.

We were drinking and walking on the side way. It was so hard for us to find a topic to talk.

Daeshim oppa was looking here and there, he was probably thinking what to say. 

Looking at him struggling to talk, made me even more nervous. He finally said, "How is you new varsity?"

I looked at him and then looked straight, "Yeah~ it's great. I met new people and they are all good people."- saying this automatically brought a smile on my face.

He looked at me, "I'm really happy to hear it" -Looking at his face when he said it, I could say he really meant it.

- "How is everyone at home?"

- "They are really happy for me."

- "That's good.. How is study by the way? How are you liking it so far?"

- "AHH! It's tiring I wish I wouldn't take physics as my major.."

"Will you be okay"- He said it with genuine concerned face.

I was seriously about to laugh but I controlled myself,

"It's okay..It's tough. But don't worry."

- "I choose chemistry because I really love studying this. Even though it can be hard to study but I love this subject. It's easy to learn when you are interested in that thing."

When he said it I felt kinda down. I always studied without any aim. I can't say I was especially interested in any subjected.

I liked to be complimented by people, that's why I studied knowing everyone will think highly of me. My parents wanted me to get into SNU, if possible with the best subject in there. And I chose this major because everyone said it would be good for my career.

I didn't know what should I say after that. But the next thing he said was,

"If you love something and couldn't get it because of circumstances, but still has the opportunity to get it back- then I would say you should try again to get it back. But if you are not specially in love with something, then you should try new things and see if you can fall in love with it. So it's okay. It's never too late to fall in love."

When he said this, I kept looking at his face. He was looking straight. And his eyes looked really pretty that time. He looked at me and smiled,

"Keep trying Jin-ae."

He probably saw me getting upset. What he said was really encouraging to me.

[Thank you]- I didn't said it loudly but I think he understood me by looking at my eyes.

We looked into each others eyes for a while. He kept smiling at me gently.

He's so tall, I had to look up to see his face. From the light breeze, his hair was fluttering and he looked like someone totally different. Not the Kim Daeshim I knew.

.

.

.

.

Daeshim oppa walked me to the bus stop.We exchanged our phone numbers. When the bus arrived and I was about to board on, he said,

"If you need any help, just call me. And take care. See you around."

I nodded and went in.

The bus started moving.

I turned around to look if he was still there,

He was still standing at the stop. I blushed and looked back.

"Yeah, see you around."

*****