metal straw | ast. cha eunwoo

thirty three

"And what if I did?"

"Then I'll take you out on a better date."

Those words were said over and over again in his head. What he said stayed in his head since that night.

Eunwoo climbed yet another flight of stairs before reaching the highest level where her supplementary classes were supposed to be. It was past noon and he had already seen a couple of students exiting one of the classrooms. He went closer to search for her but she was nowhere to be found once again, though some part of him expected it.

"Excuse me," he called out to a student about to leave the classroom, "Was Kim Soyeon here?"

"Kim Soyeon?"

The boy paused for a moment, looking out to the classroom as he tried to recall anyone by the name of Soyeon. He looked as clueless as ever so Eunwoo felt no hope of getting anything. When there was suddenly another student who was just about to leave, he turned to her.

"Excuse me," Eunwoo stopped her, "was Kim Soyeon here?"

"Kim Soyeon?" she shook her head, "She left early today, said she needed to go somewhere important."

Eunwoo felt even more hopeless.

"But... I found this, she accidentally left it on her desk," the girl handed him a phone with a pink casing.

"Thanks."

Out of nowhere, the boy before snapped his fingers, "Ah, turtle girl!"

It seemed the boy was waiting for Eunwoo and the girl to react or give him a sign that they were on the same page but neither of them showed any reaction, at most, they only gave him raised eyebrows.

"That girl has been running out a lot early these days, doing whatever the hell she wants," the boy began to shake his head as if in disapproval, "Plus, what's up with all those metal straw talks and..."

His words suddenly trailed off when he realised the long stares he was receiving, though one simply glared at him.

"I'll tell her that you were looking for her," the girl spoke.

Eunwoo thanked the girl before walking away, not without giving the boy one more glance. As he was leaving, he could still hear the two classmates bickering right after. He exited the school grounds and made his way towards the bus stop as always. Just like the days before, he waited alone.

Along the way, he felt a buzz coming from his pocket. When he took it out, he saw that it was her phone ringing with a contact name he had never seen before, however, judging by the closeup picture of two familiar and so identical eyes, Eunwoo could take a guess. And so, he answered it and a loud voice boomed out of the speakers.

"Soyeon, where are you?" MJ yelled out, "it's past noon now, did you meet up with him yet?"

"MJ Hyung?" Eunwoo questioned, still hesitant about what to address the older boy.

"You're not Soyeon...?"

Eunwoo hummed lightly in approval, still waiting for his bus to arrive to pick him up.

"Oh, Cha Eunwoo! How're you? Is Soyeon with you? Has she told you about it?"

"Told me?"

There was suddenly a pause in the line before sounds of objects clanking against each other started through the line. Eunwoo felt worried when he heard the line going silent after that.

"I wasn't supposed to tell you directly but..." a sigh was released, "Whatever, I was never good at keeping secrets."

Eunwoo suddenly heard another buzz coming from his other pocket. It was a message from an unknown number but was most likely to be MJ. The boy waited for any explanation but unfortunately, all he got was a small giggle in the background.

"Haven't you noticed? I think she was pretty obvious about it, running off here and there and being so secretive about it."

He said nothing in response. He recalled back of anything from the entire week that might give him a clue.

"Just know she's been planning this for weeks now, hope you're prepared."