White Tulips

Chapter 13

"What have I done?" Sujin pulled at her hair in frustration.

The deal she made with Han Seojun had been the on account of the many shots of soju she had taken. Now that she was sober, she realized, with abject horror, the full extent of what she had gotten herself into.

From every angle, it was a bad idea.

On paper it sounded plausible; like a plot of a comedy movie. Two people suffering from the same pain could empathize with each other. But in reality, going through a heartbreak meant that Sujin needed someone to support her. To be a crutch for her affliction, not the other way around. She didn't have the energy to support someone else nor the emotional stability to listen to Han Seojun drone on and on about the girl that the man Sujin liked was dating.

Sujin could see her and Han Seojun's fledgling friendship going up in flames before it had even had a chance to fly. She would always want to talk about Lee Suho and he would resent that since Suho was the one engaged to Jukyung. Seojun would want to talk about Jukyung and Sujin would find that annoying for the same reason.

It was a recipe for disaster.

"Yah, gimme your number." Sujin had demanded last night, handing Han Seojun her phone after he had agreed to her stupid proposal. Seojun had obediently entered his number at her behest. She programmed her number in his phone as well.

"There. Now we can text each other if we ever need to talk."

"Yah, why am I Gangster in your phone?" Seojun had protested when he saw her type it out.

Sujin had chuckled, drunk on soju. "Because you're a gangster, you gangster."

"Is that so?" Seojun proceeded to type away furiously into his phone. He held it up for Sujin to see.

"Princess? Are we kindergarteners?"

Seojun stuck his tongue out. "That's what you get for naming me Gangster."

Sujin retaliated, editing his contact. "Here!" She held up her phone.

"Wha-What? Twerp?"

Sujin now blanked on the argument that had proceeded after this but she knew they did argue. To the point that the owner of the tent bar kicked them out.

Now Sujin was stuck with the contact named as Twerp on her phone and she had no idea what to do with it. Should she text him? Should she delete it? Should she just pretend last night didn't happen?

She knew she should choose the third option. Or even the second. But her hand itched to send Seojun a text and see if he really was up for hanging out.

All day long Sujin kept checking her phone, looking for any new messages or missed calls she may have received. All she got were some memes from Suah and everyone else's responses to Suah's memes on their group chat. Han Seojun had also responded with a laughing emoji. Which meant he wasn't too busy or occupied to text Sujin.

Then why wasn't he texting her?

Why do I care?

Sujin knew why. It was because she had no body else to talk to about what was bothering her. Normally, she would have called Jukyung but this time she couldn't. Jukyung's giant engagement ring kept flashing in her mind over and over. It had even plagued her dreams last night.

Sujin needed to occupy herself. Her current jobless situation wasn't helping things either. She quickly fired a text to Suah to see if she was free to hang.

Sorry Kang Su! Me and Taehoon are going to visit his parents. Suah replied.

Sujin looked at her list of contacts. There was no one else but Han Seojun who she could ask. Reluctantly, she texted him.