Forget Me Not

Chapter Thirteen

Getting a call from Yihwa had been strange. The timing had been terrible so he'd been more abrupt than he needed to be. But there was also an element of fear in talking to her. Everything about her reminded Korn of the part he'd played in turning their lives upside down.

Everything that had happened with Knock and afterwards could not be disentangled from his friendship with Yihwa.

Spending any time, in person or over the phone, with his former friends was like an unwanted invitation to go back to whatever they had been. Not before, when they had all been carefree and hopeful. The aftermath of his betrayal, with it all the recriminations that came with what had happened; what he had done.

What was the point? Even he had a right to a semblance of normalcy after what had happened. It was the only reason he ignored the text message Yihwa sent him after their call. It was easier to turn his focus to work because, even with everything that was happening, it was simpler.

Then he got a call from Cho.

It wasn't hard to imagine that Yihwa had asked him to do it. Probably begged, cajoled and nagged him until he finally capitulated. At first, Korn was tempted not to answer. It was the middle of his workday and he shouldn't have been taking personal calls. But he wasn't in a meeting and he wasn't above avoiding his work for a few minutes. He still had the presence of mind to close his office door before he answered.

"Hello, Cho. What's up?"

"How have you been Korn? Long time." Cho was not the kind of guy to be effusive with his greetings so at least that hadn't changed.

"I'm good. How are you?" Korn matched his no-nonsense tone.

"Fine, fine. Just getting through the grind."

"Uh-huh. So, what's up?"

"Straight to the point, huh!?"

"Do you want to continue with the small talk? Cause you can go ahead."

"Nah. I'm good."

Silence.

Cho cleared his throat but still didn't speak. Korn didn't know what was going on so he didn't say anything either.

"Knock asked about you."

"Yeah. Yihwa told me."

"He wanted to know how you've been, what you've been up to but..." Cho stopped and Korn could imagine him shrugging his shoulders. Lost for words and yet still trying to communicate what he meant.

Unfortunately, guessing was not a substitute for conversation. "But?"

"I didn't know what to tell him."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know how you've been."

Why wouldn't he just lie? It wouldn't be any different from what Korn would tell him. Then deciding to make it clear and give him an out, Korn said, "Don't sweat it. You've probably got a lot going on. I'm good. Your good. Everything is good."

"Is it?"

Would it matter if he said otherwise? Would Cho really care about the people he worked with? Would he care about the one still in hospital after the accident? That Korn had visited and been so shocked by their injuries he didn't know what to say except sorry. Or that he'd left, torn between relief and fear because all he could think was, it might have been him.

Did it matter that it had taken over a year for his employer to start taking him seriously? Or that his life was finally starting to settle into some kind of existence and one phone call was enough to make him wonder if he deserved it or he was deluding himself? Would Cho really care for any of that?