inches apart | hendery

10 | familiar stranger

They were the bad guys, she was trying to be good

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   Waiting for the others buying the tickets, Aerin sat quietly on the waiting chair. While waiting, she watch random trailers on the screen in front, focused on each movie. Hyosonn came over, clinging on her arm all of a sudden. "It's Johnny English's trailer! I watched it online last night and it was hilarious!"

She looked back to the front, laughing along eventhough she can't really hear the sound came out from the television. Sungji showed their tickets, "it'll start soon but i don't feel like walking around the building so we'll stay."

Aerin looked at her watch, "That's like 40 minutes more, you guys seriously staying?"

She shrugged, looking at the people around and took a seat two metres away because there was no space for them to sit next to her. She played her phone, scroll down on her insta, watch the displayed trailers and surrounding. Thirty minutes passed without realizing, she listened to her friend next to her talking but actually ignoring her because she was bored.

She look at Gyeongwhan coming out of the girl's restroom from afar, straight to queue up to buy drinks and popcorn. She just smiled to her, still waiting for its time to go inside. She checked her watch, 15 minutes more before the movie starts.

Aerin look over to the big couch next to her where her other friend, Sungji sitting on, having her eyes on her phone these all time. Her eyes looked around as it got crowded, stuffed with families and teenagers walking around waiting and queuing to watch movies too. Her gaze stopped when she accidentally made an eye contact with a stranger, wanting to look behind him actually- quite familiar to her as the person didn't mind the sudden contact. He didn't move or something, a meaningful stare, but she avoided it, looking to her left right away and continued to watch the trailers, acting like nothing happened. Normally with strangers.

She peeked over to see what Hyosonn was doing, she was texting Sungji from that distance. "What's up with that?" She referred to Sungji's name on the above of the screen, Hyosonn replying in instant. "We're thinking of eating dinner later after the movie. Any suggestions?"

"I don't know much." She shrugged. Hyosonn said, "Hey, tell them to buy me a large sized Pepsi. I forgot to tell them." Aerin stood up immediately, walking towards her friend on the counter.

She came back to her earlier seat, seeing an unfamiliar person sitting on it, Hyosonn was not there. Looking back at Gyeongwhan and her cousin coming back with drinks and popcorns to their seat where the stranger just sat at, the stranger and his friends stood up, as if queuing in front of them where people passes by.

He glanced a few times to her and his friends did too. Hyosonn sat there next to Sungji first, Aerin confused.

She watched the stranger with a slight bleached hair, bowed as he pass by, walking to the counter to queue up. She swear it was someone she knew after she saw his friends behind him who still looks the same as before. Despite his tall figure, his friends still look like they belongs to middle school.

Gyeongwhan gave out the popcorn and drinks to each of them, "Let's get in. Although the trailers and ad plays this time, we can chill sitting there. It's too crowded."

After a long time deciding while playing phone, they walked up the stairs, giving the tickets to the worker in charge.

Before entering, Sungji look back to them. "We're gonna have separate seats, 2, and 4. 1 of the 4 seats are empty. but Gyeongwhan will be with her cousin, Young-Il, here, in the middle of the cinema but on our right. We'll stay together on the left. You guys okay?"