𝙎𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧 (Gwi-Nam x Cheong-san)

Thirteen

That morning was rough. Everyone was all stiff and sore from sleeping on the floor besides Nam-ra, On-jo and Ji-min, who had squeezed onto a couch, the three of them together. Dae-su, however, complained the loudest of them all, and I eventually had had enough.

"Shut up, Dae-su! We're all sore!" I snapped. "Don't you ever think about anyone but yourself, Dae-su? We're all tired, we're all sore, we're all hungry and we've all lost someone! Get it together! You're hungry? Don't make me laugh!" My food ran out shortly before I met with them. My gaze at Dae-su is a cold one. His expression changes from his earlier one of exaggerated discomfort and into a shocked one.

No one reprimanded me, either. Not Ji-min, not On-jo..not even Su-hyeok. Everyone just stared in silence, then went back to their work of packing up. I was satisfied when I didn't hear Dae-su complaining anymore. 

But I also felt bad. I was really harsh towards him. I turned to him , taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Dae-su. I didn't mean to be so harsh on you earlier. I'm just a little.. strained lately." He nods in understanding.

"It's alright, I was being selfish and pretty inconsiderate of everyone else's feelings. I'm also sorry." He smiles at me. I pat him on the shoulder and return the smile. 

"So we're all good? You wouldn't push me in front of you if we were attacked by zombies?" I was half joking but I think he might have taken me seriously.  He nodded. I move away from Dae-su to get my things and put them in my bag. 

"He's admiring of you now, you know." On-jo is behind me. 

"What?" I turned to look at her skeptically. 

"He admires you. Like he admires Su-hyeok." She zips up her backpack. 

"C'mon On-jo, stop joking around." I rolled my eyes at her. 

"I'm not joking, glance at him and see how he reacts."

I did it, even though I wanted to protest. Dae-su waved with a large grin on his face. I looked back at On-jo with a raised brow.

"See?" She is really annoying when she's proven right.

"Okay. But why?" I zipped up my bag, carefully. She tosses her hair and laughs. 

"Who knows? Maybe he finally saw the stubborn no-nonsense side of you that I always have." She shakes her head as if she still wants to laugh but is holding it in.

"On-jo, you are not helpful in the slightest." I rolled my eyes, but inside I was giggling with her. We set out as the sun climbed higher into the sky. 

The morning air was cool on my face and the air was starting to smell fresher. 

Before long, I was chatting with the girls, making fun of the boys and giggling about it. He never turned around, but I could tell Su-hyeok was listening. 

"And did you know that Su-hyeok fell off a playground in the 3rd year of middle school? Someone dared him to do it and he did. Then he fell off and broke his arm. It was the saddest thing I had ever seen." The girls erupt into giggles and fall into each other.

Su-hyeok indicates for me to go over him, and I turn to the girls with my eyebrows raised. "Ooh~ Someone's in trouble!"  Ji-min snickers. 

"Don't get killed by Su-hyeok!" On-jo says.

"Good luck Cheong-sannie!"  Hyo-ryeong raises her fist in support of me. I laughed and walked over to Su-hyeok.

"Yes?" It's hard for me to hold back the smile that lingers on my lips. He looks at me questioningly.

"Why do the girls keep laughing like that? What are you guys talking about?" He asks.

"Oh, you know. Things." I glance back at them, where On-jo is sneaking glances over at me and occaisionally giving a thumbs up. 

"What kind of things?" He presses me further, his eyes searching my face for any hint of the answer. 

"Oh my god what is that!" I pointed into the distance. It was an age old trick, but surprisingly enough, he fell for it like a fool. When he looked to see what it was, I booked it, grabbing Nam-ra's hand as I went.

She looks at me. "Why?" I shrugged. 

"Just thought you looked lonely is all. C'mon, I have TONS more embarassing stories about Su-hyeok to share. Like this one time when we were like, I don't know, twelve maybe? Someone threw up in the seat next to him at lunch and he was so disgusted that HE threw up too. He laughs about it now, but personally I think that it scarred him." 

She smiled a little then. It was nice to see her look a bit happier than she has been before.

"Okay." She joined us.

We stayed like that until we reached the outskirts of Hyosan.