Just Another Love Story

Story 6

"Are you okay, Unnie?"

"H-huh? Oh yeah. I'm fine. Sorry." Minjeong smiled awkwardly. She quietly finished her dinner.

"You're not having fun, are you?" The young woman smiled sadly.

"N-no no! It's fine! I'm having a good time." Minjeong widened her smile.

They exchanged more small talk before they left the restaurant. Minjeong took the girl home and politely bid goodbye. They both knew that there wouldn't be a second date.

Minjeong drove around the city before she headed back to the apartment. She needed to clear her head. It was filled with Karina.

"It's been too long. Why am I still not over you? I can never have you. I know that. I've known that from the very start. And yet... here I am, talking to myself alone in my car after a failed date with a cute girl." She took a deep breath. "A date that failed because I kept wishing that it was you sitting across from me and not her." She shook her head. I'm one heck of a babo. All I could think about all night was you: what you were doing and whether you were sick because you didn't look well when I left you at home. When it got awkward, all I wanted to do was grab a pen and paper and write you a letter.

"I'm hopeless," Minjeong mumbled. "I might as well become a monk or something because at this rate, I can never date anyone else for as long as you're still single. I can't even try."

Minjeong arrived home late and saw that the apartment was dark when she walked inside. She took off her shoes and headed straight to her room. She took off her jacket, washed her face and brushed her teeth. She then changed into her pajamas, switched the lights off and threw herself on the bed. She wished to sleep it off.

Karina heard Minjeong come home. She was lying awake in her room, unable to sleep because Minjeong was still out. She checked the clock and sighed. The date must have gone very well, huh? She turned her body and just lay there staring at the ceiling.

Minjeong tossed and turned. She couldn't sleep. She had been trying to ignore everything. The increasing closeness, the fluttery feeling she still felt when Karina did something nice for her and the happiness when she got Karina's notes or letters. She had told herself over and over again that they were just friends, roommates – hoping that her heart would come to understand it.

Minjeong sat up with a groan. She turned on the small lamp next to her bed and took out a notepad and pen from the drawer.

She started to write.

"Rina-ah, I can't sleep. The date was a disaster. I couldn't stop thinking about you. I couldn't stop wishing that it was you sitting across from me.

What to do, Rina? I thought I was over you. I know I can never have you but I can't deny that I love you. I still love you even after all these years. Crazy isn't it?"

She stopped writing. "What am I saying?" She ripped the page out, crumpled it and threw it away.

"What are you doing?"

Minjeong jumped when she heard the voice. She turned her head and saw Karina standing at her door. "Why are you still up? And what happened to knocking before entering?"

Karina walked in and picked up the crumpled piece of paper.

"N-no! Don't read that!" Minjeong jumped off the bed.

Karina easily evaded Minjeong's grasping hands. She turned around and quickly read the writings on the crumpled paper under the dim lighting.

"Don't!" Minjeong made one final attempt to snatch the paper away. She managed to grab a corner of it but Karina was holding on tight so she ended up ripping the paper in half.