Unexpected Ties

Playing Cupid

Third person POV
Three months before

Siwoo had just shifted to Cheonju with his dad. He was busy arranging his belongings in his room and Minjae was lying on the couch.

"Get up & do some work." Siwoo said, slightly annoyed.

"You made me unpack everything..I'm tired now." Minjae replied.

"and you have been resting since one hour.."

"Whatever...have you arranged your school uniform?"

"Shit..no..I forgot I had to go to the boutique today."

"Here..you can use my school uniform..till you get yours." Minjae threw the sweater at Siwoo.

"What will you wear then?" Siwoo asked while putting on the sweater.

"I won't show up naked at school..don't worry." Minjae chuckled.

"I have an extra pair..relax.." He added.

Siwoo left to visit the local boutique to give his measurements. As he entered the shop, the girl standing beside the counter kept glancing at him as he was wearing the same school's uniform as of hers.
She was Miyeon.
She took a step further but tripped over the carpet corner.

"Are you okay?" Siwoo rushed towards her.

She nodded, slightly embarrassed.

He extended his hand towards her, Miyeon blushed and held his hand to stand up.

"Thank you."  She smiled and observed the name written on his name tag, 'Jung Minjae'.

"wait...I'll bring the measuring tape in a second." Miyeon continues.

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
Hana's POV
Present Day

I was standing behind the counter of the convenience shop, observing Siwoo through the window pane. He noticed me and gave me a warm smile, I quickly looked away.

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
Siwoo's POV

It was a windy Saturday afternoon. I was waiting for Hana outside the movie theater.
I noticed Miyeon rushing towards me.

"Hi!" She greeted me with a smile.
"Hana..couldn't come today she's busy and she doesn't have your phone number..so I'm here instead." She adds.
I couldn't help but feel sad.
"Is she alright?" I asked Miyeon.
"Yeah..Sia's father is sick so she called Hana and Minjae to help her out on the farm."
"Hana really cares about her friends."
"She does...umm..Siwoo thanks for being so kind..I thought I would never see you again."
I don't know what she was talking about but I just nodded and smiled.
"Let's go inside." She holds my hand.
"Yeah." I say and gently pull my hand away.

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
Hana's POV

I was busy filling the buckets with plump, juicy grapes.
"It's so boring..you lied Hana." Minjae complained.
"Shut up and pick the grapes otherwise I'll tell everyone I rejected you." I said sternly.
"You can't blackmail me like this Kim Hana."
"My family is very influential.."
I stuffed a handful of grapes into his mouth.
"eww...yu didn't eben wach them." He said in a muffled voice.

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
"Thank you so much for today..Hana.." Miyeon hugs me.
"You love Siwoo..I can do this much for you." I smiled.
"You know..he's so sweet."
"Really?"
"Yeah..he's really kind..he even bought lunch for me..and listened to me so calmly." She squeals and covers her face with the blanket.

I heard my cellphone ringing and I quickly picked it up.
"Hana..It's Siwoo..Can we please talk?"
I quickly disconnected the call once I heard Siwoo's voice.
"Who was it?" Miyeon asks.
"it's..umm...wrong number.." I nervously smile.
"Oh..I am very tired and I'm going to sleep now..Good Night.."
"Night!"

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
After Miyeon fell asleep, I quietly went to the telephone booth, with a racing heart, I took a deep breath and inserted a coin into the slot,
I dialed Siwoo's number,

"Hello?" I felt relaxed once I heard his voice.
"Hi..it's me Hana." I replied.
"What took you so long, Hana?"
"I wanted to tell you something....Siwoo."
"So do I..close your eyes and turn around."

Confused, I slowly turned my head, my eyes closed.
"Open your eyes Hana." Siwoo said.
He was standing just a few feet away from me, a reassuring smile on his lips. My heart skipped a beat, and I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks.
It was raining so we decided to take shelter under a shop's awning.

"You should have told me you weren't coming today..don't let your friend do all the work." He smiled.
"Well..I got to know alot about you today..thanks to Miyeon." He adds.
"Were you guys talking about me?" I asked.
He nods.
"She told me how you liked beating up guys since you were small..and you prefer kicks over punches." He laughs.

"Hana..I'm so grateful that I met you.." He takes a step closer.
"I want to tell you something." He continues.
"Before that can I tell you something?"  I say.
"Sure." He replies.
"I'm sorry Siwoo....I didn't show up today for a reason..I..I don't have that kind of feelings for you.." I swallowed hard, my words stumbling over each other as I spoke.
"Hana..." Siwoo tried to say but I interrupted him, "I..I..am sorry if you got the..the wrong idea."
The disappointment on Siwoo's face was clearly visible, he nodded and left.