stranger in busan // k. junkyu

6

i spent the last thirty minutes talking to junkyu about the most random stuff like his family and some of his crazy friends.

"are you hungry? my stomach is killing me", he says.

"i ate already but you can have one of the chocolate breads my friend bought me", i say and take them out of my bag.

"oh wow, thank you!", he smiles and takes one.

"mhh, it's so good", he says as he takes a bite.

"what are you doing in busan by the way?", i ask.

"it's complicated", he says with his mouth full.

"i'm meeting someone there."

"is it a girlfriend?", i ask but regret it immediately. why am i asking such a personal question.

"nope. it's, ... let's talk about you. what are you doing in busan?"

"it's complicated, i don't think we need to go in detail about it", i let out an awkward chuckle.

he nods understanding and continues eating.

he's really cute and i'm kind of enjoying this ride with him. i don't want him to think i'm crazy if i tell him the story.

suddenly we hear an announcement so we listen.

we didn't understand the first few sentences so we looked at each other confused until we hear,

"... it looks like we have a slight problem. there has been an accident with one of the trains in front of us so we have to change directions to be safe. we advice you to book a bus ticket instead at the next station so you could get to your destination safely. we apologise for this inconvenience."

i look shocked at junkyu, who seems to have the same reaction as me.

"what are we supposed to do?", i ask.

"i don't think we'll be able to get a bus ticket at this hour. it's always so busy and i don't know if we're lucky enough to get two", he says.

i sigh and lean back into the seat.

"it'll cost us so much money if we take a taxi back though", i say and try to think of a solution.

"i think i'll stay the night at some motel there and get back home tomorrow", he says.

"i think i should look for one too... it'll be much cheaper than taking a taxi."

he nods.

is it weird for me to ask him if i could stay at the same motel? i don't want to be alone in a motel with strangers at night and he seems to be really nice and i already feel comfortable with him.

"if you want we could stay together... i mean obviously in different rooms but i think we would both feel more comfortable that way instead of staying in different ones alone", he says as if he was reading my mind.

"i was thinking the same thing. i should call my friend and tell her. she'll kill me if i don't tell her where i am."

i take out my phone and call soojin. after lecturing me for almost 10 minutes we finally hang up.

"she didn't like the idea, right?", he asks.

"nope. but she thought it would be better than taking a taxi for a couple of hours."

"at least i'm not alone", he shrugs his shoulders and laughs.

what have i gotten myself into...