Summer Detour [Book 2] | Pentagon ✔

Chapter 10

❝How lucky I am
to have something
that makes saying
goodbye
so hard.❞
ㅡWinnie the Pooh

•

Chapter 10
Almost A Goodbye
Hyunjoo

I can't believe I missed Hongseok's RV. We took a taxi to get back to the parking lot where we left it.

We found out that we're just an hour away from Seoul now. We left the sauna by eleven and it's almost twelve now. I'm hungry.

There was no music playing so when my stomach grumbled, we both heard it very clearly. I turned away in embarrassment. Hongseok said nothing but then we spotted a small restaurant by the road and I still said nothing though he started parking nearby. I hid a smile.

"Let's grab some lunch first. I'm starving too." he said with a grin.

I quietly nodded. This time, he's paying because the twenty dollars I had is now gone. I ordered the cheapest, but good food, but Hongseok kept ordering more. "You're going to eat all of those?" I asked him.

"Silly." he said. "Of course, we are going to eat them."

"Butㅡ"

"Don't start."

I let myself grin. "Sorry. Will make it up to you next time."

Back to the RV, on the way to Seoul, Hongseok turned on the radio loud. Good songs really happen to be playing at that moment. All I could do was stare out the window and hide a smile; because I felt so content.

#

CRYING BECAUSE HONGSEOK ORDERED BINGSU.

Watermelon bingsu. And we're sharing it as dessert. I try to ignore the fact that we are sharing one watermelon shaved ice.

"So your friend lives in Seoul?" he asked casually.

I nodded, scooping watermelon. "Yeah, she's older than us."

"Oh really? How is she?"

"Nice," I said with a shrug "Despite our age gap, she is really nice to meㅡand oh, she's really, really funny and friendly. She just got her license as a dentist. She'll be working in no time. Really intelligent." I said this proudly.

Hongseok smiled, "I detect proudness."

I grinned guiltily. "I am! Studying is hard. She worked really hard to take the licensure exam only once."

I waited a moment to see if he would ask about my college life. If he did, would I lie to him? I don't want to lie to him, but at the same time, I don't want him to be disappointed in me more than he probably already is. He had been nice to me all this time and maybe after this, he would go on his own way and we wouldn't see each other again in a long time. A long stopover of my journey.

Instead, he smiled really nicely that I almost stopped to stare. "My younger brother Seonhoㅡyou know him, right? He got into high school recently but he's doing really well. He's always been an awesome kid."

I smiled back at him and looked down at the watermelon. "I detect proudness." I mimed his words.

He chuckled. "Sometimesㅡor most of the time, I wish I was like him."

"Why?" I asked with a blink.

When he smiled, I detect sadness on it. I have no idea how I managed to notice the difference between his smiles and the look in his eyes when we've only spent a short time together. And I wondered if after thisㅡI would miss him somehow. Hongseok is the person I've gotten the closest with after my family, Sorin and my online friends.