Catharsis

odd

When you opened your house gate, instead of letting me in, you bent your knees and pulled me with both arms for a bear hug. "Byunbaek! It's been so long! I missed you so much!"

You almost broke my ribs, but I smiled along and hugged you back. "Yeah, yeah. I missed you too."

You dragged me to the living room and we sat side by side on the sofa.

"What brings you here today? You came without telling me first!" you exclaimed, but somehow your low voice sounded dry. I saw the dark shades under your eyes and wondered what was the reason of it. Was school draining you so bad? Were you exhausted?

"I just have some free time and wanted to check how my only best friend's doing."

"I'm doing pretty well. First year of school without Byunbaek around. Amazing." You pretended to have a back sore then chuckled. "How about you?"

"I'm doing fine too."

"Of course, you're smart. What will be a problem for you, nerdy?" You pinched my cheek and laughed even harder when I slapped your hand away.

It was nice to see you laugh so I ignored the fact that you looked strangely tired or you were still in your pajamas although it was already 1 p.m and that day wasn't even Sunday.

You told me from A to Z about your new school and I caught you holding your yawn two-three times. That was odd. You were never tired even at exam weeks. I reminded myself to check on you more often, to make sure you were okay.

But I ended up forgetting it, and before I realized everything just went wrong.