The Hideout I Need

Chapter 6: A lot can happen in a month

Hyeong-jun sat in his seat in the back of the class, looking out of the window. There weren't any clouds, since it was a sunny day, so Hyeong-jun's eyes were following an airplane, wondering where it came from and where it'd land. He found himself excited for the school field trip, craving somewhat of a getaway. While in thought, he suddenly felt a little shock at the touch of a soft hand on his shoulder, his eyes searching for the owner. His face of surprise quickly fell into a soft expression, seeing Tae-young with a kind smile on his face.

"Good morning," Tae-young said as he sat down in his chair.

"Hi," Hyeong-jun smiled back at him.

It had been a month since White Day. Hyeong-jun's heart would still flutter just thinking about that day. The fact that they were already halfway through April was mind-blowing. Time really does go by when you're having fun, he thought.

In the month since school started, a lot happened. For starters, Hyeong-jun told his sister about his crush. That actually happened quite early on, probably only about after a week or something. To be fair, he couldn't hold it back anymore, he had to tell somebody. And he certainly couldn't tell his friends about it, so ranting to Hyeon-ah out of the blue it is!

"Wow, Hyeong-jun, you've only known him for, like, a week," Hyeon-ah laughed, scooping a clump of rice with her spoon. The two of them were on the couch, watching the fifth-or-somethingth episode of a new drama she was watching. They both sat cross-legged on the sofa, a bowl of dinner each in their arms.

"I know, but you should see him, Hyeon-ah!" he said, mouth full of food, eyes still glued on the TV, "He's literally perfect in every way."

"You've said that about all your crushes," she chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"But Tae-young is literally perfect. I swear, there's nothing he can't do."

"Is he the one you ate dinner with last Monday?"

"Mhm," he said, chewing the food he just put in his mouth.

"You said he lived alone, right? You should ask him to eat every week or something," she smirked, "Since I'm not home most evenings, you should find some company so you don't eat alone."

His eyes widened, turning his head to face her, "What? No! I can't just do that, wouldn't it sound too weird?"

"Geez, don't be such a pussy. Back in my day, we used to ask people out on dates in front of each other all the time."

"OK, you dinosaur," he frowned, scrunching his nose.

"I'm only 25, you idiot baby," she chuckled. At that moment, the male lead took off his shirt to start working out or whatever. It's not a drama if there isn't at least one unnecessary shirtless scene. Her mouth fell to the floor and she might as well have been drooling, "God, Park Seo-joon is so hot."

Hyeong-jun laughed at her flustered manner, looking back onto the TV in awe as well, "True."

They spent the rest of the episode sitting there, both in sweatpants, finishing their dinner. Hyeong-jun went the rest of the evening totally dismissing the idea of asking Tae-young to eat weekly dinners together. That would be way too straightforward, wouldn't it? Not to mention, a little odd. They had only known each other a week, who asks someone they barely know to eat with them every week?

However, he couldn't stop thinking about her suggestion.

He felt insanely nervous, thinking the entire following school day about how to ask him. He felt conflicted throughout his first couple of classes as to whether or not he even should ask. On one hand, he didn't want to seem weird. On the other, he really wanted to ask. But what would Tae-young even think? Hyeong-jun tried putting himself in Tae-young's shoes; how would he react if someone he barely knew asked to eat dinner together weekly? God, he probably wouldn't like that.