Love triangle | 01

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I saw him long before she did.

He stepped into the tutorial room at approximately 8:09 in the morning, on the day of the very first Business Law class. I had been looking at the door at that exact moment, for some incredible, unknown reason. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been the first to see him.

I had known, from the very first glance, that he had been someone special. That shock of short blonde hair, that fair, blemish-free skin, those strong, sharp features that could've hinted at blue-blooded lineage in his family tree...

He was very, very good looking. It didn't help that the sunlight streaming in behind him through the open door bathed him in a soft golden glow and made him look like an angel that had somehow gotten lost and walked right into my life by mistake.

It was suddenly becoming a chore to breathe normally.

Chaeyoung was still chattering away beside me, talking about the first day of class or something equally inane, but my whole attention was fixed on this... this angelic boy who had just walked into class.

He was looking around as he passed, possibly looking for a friendly face but found none. In the end, he had to walk past our table to reach the other side of the room, where the bulk of empty seats were.

The messenger bag slung over his shoulder bumped against the edge of our table as he squeezed past.

"Sorry," he said politely, glancing briefly at us.

He had an accent. Well – everyone had an accent. But he had an accent that didn't sound like everyone else's. His words had a certain foreign lilt to them – a melody that flowed through the air danced its way straight into my heart.

By then, Chaeyoung had stopped talking and was also looking at him.

"Oh, my gosh," I whispered when he was out of earshot, burying half of my face into my hands, so that only my eyes were uncovered. Beneath my palm, I could feel the heat radiating off my skin. "He is so cute."

"Eh," Chaeyoung said in an unimpressed tone from beside me, "he's okay."

My heart was beating hard. There was a feeling of euphoria rising in my chest – the kind that you had when you were around someone you really, really liked. There is an English word for it – limerence. But that doesn't sound particularly romantic. The Korean equivalent – seolleim – sounds much better.

Everything usually sounds much better in a foreign language.

"Do you think he's Taiwanese?" I whispered out of the corner of my mouth to Chaeyoung while I snuck another look at him. He had sat down one table away and was now rummaging in his bag.

"Maybe," Chaeyoung said. She was looking out of the corner of her eye at him too.

When class began and attendance was taken for the first time, I learnt that his name was Yuta Nakamoto. Nakamoto – that was a Japanese name, wasn't it?

I spent the entire class in a daze, straining to catch glimpses of Yuta out of my peripheral vision whenever possible. Unfortunately, since he was seated on the side of the room nearer to Chaeyoung, she was in the way of my direct line of sight most of the time. By the end of the class, I was a little grouchy from straining my eye muscles so much.

"Are we meeting the others for lunch?" Chaeyoung was asking me as we were packing up to leave. I took a moment to reply her, since I was concentrating hard on trying to hear what Yuta was saying as he walked past our table with some other guy he had apparently befriended over the course of the class.

"Yeah, I'm from Japan," I heard him say.

"Cool," his new friend responded. "How long have you been here?"

Never before had my obsession with other cultures and languages come more in handy. Long ago – another lifetime ago, when I had been more than a little intrigued by the Japanese cultures – I had dabbled in a few Japanese phrases.

"Ikimashou (let's go)" I said to Chaeyoung, in a louder voice and stronger accent than necessary. It wasn't an entirely conscious act, but perhaps a part of me wanted to attract his attention.

I succeeded.

I felt, more than saw, him turn around and his gaze land on me.

Chaeyoung was regarding me oddly. "Um, okay," she said, choosing not to comment on my sudden change in volume or accent. "Let's go, then."

I felt his gaze remain on me as we left and grinned to myself. With that one word, I had managed to get his attention. And – who knew? Maybe in time, something else, something exciting, could happen...

The semester had just started, but I loved Business Law class already.

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⏰ Last updated: Sep 05, 2022 ⏰

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