ephemera 一 baek dohwa.

v

The bruises take two weeks to heal.

Then another two, because he comes back.

Dohwa leans his head against the bus window. It’s so stupid. He hates keeping up this facade. Worst of all, he hates that he’s got no one to talk to about it, because the only person who understands him clearly likes someone else and has her own problems to deal with.

The bus jerks to a halt, and Dohwa is glancing at the front of the bus again.

He sits a little straighter when he sees her get on. It’s the girl who sits three rows in front of him.

Except for some reason, she looks more focused than usual, eyes travelling straight to him 一 and settling there. And then, again for that same unknown reason, she comes up to him even though her usual seat is unoccupied, and sits right down next to him.

‘I thought you died,’ is the first thing she says to Dohwa. She stares straight ahead as she speaks.

For the first time, he wants her to look at him.

So he remains silent, fixing his gaze on her until she glances at him and says, ‘A four week long absence isn’t normal.’

Dohwa stares at her. ‘You don’t see your bus buddy for a month, and the first thing you talk about is my death?’

‘We’re bus buddies?’

He scoffs. ‘Clearly. Do we not have the friendliest interactions whenever we see each other?’

The corner of her mouth curls up into a little grin. ‘I wasn’t aware that you held me in such high esteem.’

‘Of course I do.’ He pauses. ‘What’s your name, actually?’

She laughs in disbelief, but seems genuinely amused. ‘Wow. That’s so shameless of you.’

Dohwa snorts. ‘You can remain nameless if you’d prefer.’

She shakes her head. ‘I would not prefer that, although it’d be quite fun to see how long it takes you to actually find out what my name is.’

‘What class are you in?’

‘Nope.’

‘Year?’

‘Yours!’ She frowns, giving him an are you stupid look. ‘Fine. Let’s say you don’t manage to get my name by tomorrow morning, you buy me something from the convenience store, okay?’

Dohwa chuckles. He answers before thinking. ‘Fine.’

‘You won’t disappear again tomorrow, right?’

‘Hopefully not.’

Her smile is somewhat satisfied, and she draws out her book to read at last. Dohwa suppresses a smile of his own as he turns to the window, replacing his earbuds.