WITH GRACE.

6장

"eunhye!" i scanned my surroundings, finding whoever was calling me.

it was jake. he was waving his hand enthusiastically, drawing people's attention. he wasn't alone. in fact, he came with jay and sunghoon. as they drew nearer to where i sat, i soon realized that the people were already looking my way, seemingly intrigued as to why three good-looking men were heading towards me ㅡ the plain girl from the home economics college.

it's good to note that these three are part of the popular clique in the university. how would they not be? they're part of the university's boasted performance crew.

i, on the other hand, was like a ghost on the grounds. people who know me are limited to a few department people that i got to interact with.

my classes were released earlier than the dismissal time, so i decided to drop by the college's canteen to get myself some lunch. i sat alone in a table fit for four by the corner. there were solo tables, but i was unfortunate to come at a time where all of them were taken. i was eating my lunch just fine and did not foresee anything like popular boys coming my way with their orders in hand ever.

"do you mind if we sit with you?" jay asked me.

"well... uh, yeah. sure."

they propped themselves on their chosen seats. jay sat across me with jake beside him and... and sunghoon sat beside me.

"you look constipated, eunhye. anything wrong?" jake pointed out.

"yeah. popular boys sitting with me for lunch? i mean, that's not a problem at all. the problem is, the three of you are drawing a lot of unwanted attention," i sighed, frustrated at people's curious gazes looking our way.

"does it bother you?" sunghoon then asked.

"i'm not used to it, that's all," i shrugged and this time, i was the one asking, "what brought you here, anyway? as far as i am aware, you're not from one of the departments in this college."

"we grew tired of the food in our college's canteen and this was the next nearest one." jay responded.

"i see. are you three from the same college? jay, you're from the allied medical professions department, right?" jay nodded in approval.

"we're not. i'm from the arts and sciences department. sunghoon's from the dentistry department," jake explained.

"oh, interesting."

"how about you, eunhye?" jake was the one interrogating me this time.

"i'm from the home economics college. i'm taking community nutrition,"

"community nutrition is a thing? how come i've never heard of that?" jay was getting curious.

"well, yeah. it's not a suprise to know a lot of people haven't heard of it yet. only a handful of admissions are accepted every year,"

we continued eating. there were still some people who occasionally throw curious glances at our table, but they didn't bother me as much as they did earlier. the three seemed unbothered as they were talking things about the dance crew and i was left eating in silence.

soon, it was time for me to leave for volunteer work.

"so soon?" jake was pouting like a little child.

"so soon? we've been here for almost a couple of hours already," i chuckled, "besides, i have volunteer work to attend to,"

"oh, you do volunteer work?" jay asked.

"yeah. i come and help out the local orphanage every monday. it's actually time for me to go," i explained.

"can i go?" our eyes stared at sunghoon who spoke out of the blue.

"uh... well, sure. only if you don't have classes anymore," i said.

he smiled widely.

"great. i'll be going with you then," he said, standing up and hoisting his bag.

"but sunghoon-ah, don't you haveㅡ" jay was about to protest, but was cut off by sunghoon who was giving him an eye.

"are you sure you don't have anything else to do?" i say, scrutinizing sunghoon.

"nothing important. so, shall we go?" he said, smiling once again.

i didn't even realize he was already holding my bag.

as if in a trance, i absentmindedly nodded my head and walked out of the canteen. i could still feel curious gazes directed on me... on us, rather. sunghoon was walking in front of me, still holding my bag.

i snapped out of my daze and held sunghoon's arm, calling his attention. thankfully, there weren't a lot of people anymore as we were already out of the canteen.

"my bag. i can hold my bag by myself," i told him, pointing at my bag.

he only smiled at me and shook his head.

"butㅡ"

"shouldn't we be going, now?" he asked, changing the topic.

i huffed in annoyance and walked ahead of him, leading the way. before i walked ten steps ahead, i stopped on my tracks and looked back at him who was following me.

"you know what? you're acting weird." i spoke out, crossing my hands in front of my chest.

"what do you mean? i'm being normal," he replied with a seemingly innocent smile.

"we've only known each other for like... three days? but... ugh, this friendship is weirdly fast-paced," i grumbled.

he only smiled even wider.

honestly, why does he keep on smiling?