[no reason] - eric sohn

ten: train pt.2

Jihyun's older sister was originally supposed to drop her off at MT, but work had called her in for a last minute meeting, so here she was with her sister's fiance instead.

"Okay, fine, just drop me off at the subway and I'll head on my way and you can get back to work."

"Juhyun told me to go with you all the way to the bus transfer."

"Ugh, come on, you don't always have to listen to what she says," She groaned.

She hated how Myungjun was at her sister's beck and call, now instead of just one overbearing sister she had an overbearing future-brother-in-law as well. Double whammy.

They turned a corner to the station and started to head down to the subway platform.

"I don't know why Juhyun asked you to drive me all the way here, it's like she doesn't trust me."

"You know why she doesn't trust you." He said, giving her a stern look.

Right. 

"Whatever," She mumbled.

They were halfway down to the station when she noticed someone looking back up at them. He also carried a suitcase.

Wait.

She recognized him.

Jihyun racked her brain to try to remember from where. 

Think. Think.

Right! Her 1pm ARE5013 tutorial. He sat in the front row with his friend that always showed up late. The suitcase probably meant he was headed to MT as well, the department of architecture was the only faculty holding a retreat this weekend anyway. 

If she managed to convince Myungjun that he was someone she knew, he'd let her head to MT by herself.

"Hey!" She shouted, hoping to get his attention.

The boy turned back around and started hurrying down the steps.

What the hell?

"Hey, stop, wait up. Wait up! Orange suitcase!" She called out again.

This time, he stopped. He looked around, looking to see if she had been calling to someone else before gesturing at himself.

She nodded vigorously. 

"Myungjun, he's a classmate, how about you let me head to MT with him, then you can get back to work." She asked.

Before waiting for an answer, she took her suitcase from him and rushed down to the boy from her lectures.

"Do you even know him?" Myungjun shouted after her.

"Yeah I do," She replied, as she went to stand beside the boy she quickly nudged him in the side, praying he'd take the hint.

"Uh yeah, we're in the same faculty, I'm headed to MT too." He lied smoothly.

She let out a sigh of relief.

"Uh, I don't- you know what, whatever." Myungjun sighed, he knew better than to push her antics. "Jihyun just remember call your sister when you arrive."

"Got it!" She threw up a quick thumbs up and then turned to the boy.

"Thank you so much," She whispered to him, "Now let's go, we'll miss the subway."

The two hurried down to the platform, making it just in time for the next train. They found a spot in the almost empty car and settled in, putting away their luggage.

"So," The boy asked, "Who was that?"

"My sister's fiance," She told him,  "she wanted to make sure I got to MT safely so she made him send me off. He was originally going to take the train with me all the way to terminal but now I have you! Thank you again." 

She took a second to catch her breath from all the running earlier.

"I'm Jihyun by the way, Choi Jihyun, architecture, we have a couple classes together if you remember me at all." She introduced herself, putting her hand out for him to shake.

"I'm Eric, also in architecture, and I do actually remember you from our classes." He replied with a smile.

It was now that she finally got to have a closer look at his face and... wow, how had she never noticed him before? 

He had outgrown bleached blonde hair that draped gently over his eyes, softly framing the half moon crescents his eyes formed when he smiled. 

In other words, he was very, very pretty. At least to her.

"So" He said, breaking her train of thought, "Did you miss the bus this morning or?"

Right, the buses the school always hired for the retreats.

"No, I'm not a fan of taking the charter buses, too rocky makes me motion sick. Plus, the scenery is so much nicer on the express trains."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes! It goes right by the water and the mountains." She pulled out her phone to show him some photos she had taken before. "Actually, what route were you planning to take to MT?"

"Uh," Eric paused to think, "I was just going to switch to line 4 and then take a bus from there, or whatever way Kakao Navigation tells me to go."

"How about you come with me? We're going the same place anyways right? I can show you the scenery along the way." Jihyun suggested.

He stayed silent for a second.

Right, why would he go with her, he only met her a couple minutes ago. She wouldn't trust herself either if she was in his position.

But...

She pulled out her official HYU lanyard for the event. "Here, Choi Jihyun, Coordinator, you can trust me I know the way, it'll be fun I promise."

She didn't know why she felt the need to convince him to come along with her, but she knew she'd regret it if she didn't take this chance to spend a 2-hour commute with a cute boy from her classes. 

Doyeon would be proud of her.

"Okay, sure." He finally agreed. "I'll take your word for it Ms. Jihyun."