It Just Happened That Way || JEONGIN from skz!

7

About 2 weeks went by since I had my heart taken and crushed by a stranger in a cafe. (Was that dramatic? I don't know, I'm just single, alone, and have nothing changing in my social life) (I am also just dramatic, thanks to Hyunjin hyung's contagious idiosyncrasies)

I was on my way home one morning from a late night at the studio, recording some new music with the boys. We may not be releasing anything for a while, but it was still nice to get together to create music. The music is what brings us together, and, as much as it is for Stay, it is also just for us to express ourselves regardless of a comeback schedule. Most of us ended up passing out overnight at the company, and I had just gotten up to go home. I desperately needed some food and a shower and some sleep — my body was also just aching from sleeping crooked on a couch. Minho hyung really wouldn't scoot to share some of the space.

As I turned onto the street leading to the apartment, I noticed a couple of delivery guys dropping off big packages at the front, before getting into their truck. I slowed down and watched as a frantic girl in athletic wear ran out and shouted at them to help her. Nobody stopped to help her, what assholes!

I start to jog over to help her carry the boxes inside, when she just tackles the first big box on her own. Damn. She's stron—Oh my god, she's falling.

I reach her just in time to catch her before she hits the ground. I hold on to her tight so that she could find her footing, but, as if there was a force field, she quickly jumps away from me and stands up straight.

I squint my eyes a little bit as I look at her, and my heart rate jumps as I recognize her eyes. My expression of happy surprise gets out before I can stop it. Not very cool of me, but this must be some crazy coincidence!

"You're that Americano girl from the cafe aren't you?" I ask even though I'm already certain. "Do you live here?" Please say yes.

"Um yeah," she laughs, and her eyes turn into crescent moons. "I just moved in this morning."

I can hardly contain my excitement, as she continues to tell me that she lives next door to my unit. She doesn't seem as excited as I do though. THAT's fine, I'M fine, this is FINE!

"By the way, what's your name?"

"My name is Lee Yeona. What about you?"

I try to hide my surprise and relief that she doesn't know who I am. 

"My name is Yang Jeongin. Anyways, let me help you get these boxes upstairs."

After we get the boxes upstairs, I offer to help build her furniture, not only because I expect it would be difficult for her to do alone, but because I really wanted to get to know her.

Apparently she grew up in California, which explains her slight American accent. She spoke a little slower than the average Korean, but it was quite endearing and added to her cuteness. She would probably get really good at Korean within a month. 

I was already excited to introduce her to the boys -- they'd love her. She had a sense of humor that meshed well with mine, and she was good at conversation. As I kept asking her questions about her life, I could tell she wanted to turn the conversation to me. I wasn't quite ready to open up, which was the usual behavior when I met someone new. Besides, I was too curious about why she was here, and how long she'd be staying.

A couple hours of assembling and talking passed, and I was dying from starvation and sleep deprivation, on top of being sore. I didn't really notice it until we finished building everything because of her energy, and my endless curiosity. As if she had read my mind, she turned to me with a big smile and said, "Are you hungry? It's on me. It's the least I can do for all of the help you gave today."

Oh god yes please, I thought. I began putting on my jacket and shoes, saying "there's this restaurant I've been wanting to try out down the street. Let's go there!"

"Okay! Sounds good, let me get changed really quick."

I go outside to wait for her, and to give her some privacy. She comes out within minutes in jeans, a simple beige sweater, and a long coat, as well as black Blundstones.

"Blundstones! I haven't met anyone who has them here. I have a pair and I love them," I tell her excitedly as we head into the elevator.

We continue small talking about the neighborhood and its charms and quirks as we walk to the restaurant, "Noodles". Very creative name, I know, but the food is apparently delicious. We crowd into the cramped restaurant, and are quickly guided to a table by an Ahjumma. The walls are covered in Kpop posters, and my eyes immediately scan them frantically searching to see if there's anything from us.

BTS, Monsta X, EXO, Twice, Itzy...Oh god. Right there, a huge poster.

Upon seeing the poster I quickly choose my seat first, so that she doesn't have any line of sight to the poster. What a disaster, I can't believe I chose this restaurant. Never again. She gives me a slightly pointed look because of my behavior, and slowly takes the seat opposite of me. I smile big as if nothing is wrong.

"So how long have you been living in this apartment?" She asks.

"Oh, it's probably been about 6 months, maybe less. But it's been good, a lot less chaotic than living with a bunch of friends. Don't get me wrong, I love them a lot, but I'm 22 now, I'm a big boy who needs his own space."

She chuckles at me, and I feel a little embarrassed with my answer. But maybe I'm just overthinking it. She just seems a lot more mature and experienced in life than me, and I felt the need to show her that I was also grown up. God. This is why I shouldn't talk about myself. 

"I just realized I don't know how old you are!" I pout at her, and she rolls her eyes before answering, "I'm older than you, if that's what you're wondering."

I give her a toothy smile, and she rolls her eyes again.

"I'm 24 in American age, so 25 here. Jeez. That sounds so old."

"It's not! My friends are around that age too! Don't worry." Hopefully that reassures her that age is not an issue with me, I am not ageist! I love and appreciate all ages! 

"I think it's cool that you've done so much with your life already though," I continue. "You've gone and graduated from college, and gotten not one, but two jobs, both at reputable companies! And then you moved here? That's ballsy of you. Meanwhile, I haven't gone to university or even gone to the army."

She blushes a little from the flattery. Or maybe it's just hot inside this restaurant.

"I mean, to be fair, it's not hard to get a job in software engineering when every job posting is for software engineering. It's just convenient to be in this field, I'm not really driven by anything else."

I tilt my head, not understanding what she means.

"What I'm saying is that I don't care a lot for the job or the major that I studied. There isn't a lot of ...real passion. I just knew at the time that it would be a good gateway to me traveling and having freedom to do what I wanted to do, to a certain extent," she explains. She seems a little awkward about it all.

I softly smile at her. "Yeah, I mean we all have different priorities, but at the end of the day, we are all working to make a living. You have it pretty good, I mean, you can explore whatever passions you want without any financial restrictions, right? What's wrong with that."

She nods with a quiet sigh of... relief? Maybe there were people in the past who had judged her for choosing this path? Whatever it might be that makes her feel this way, I'll let her tell me when she is ready to. Already I can tell that we are going to get along well. Needless to say, I'm excited for whatever life has in store for me.