Pandora's Box | kim mingyu & jeon wonwoo

05

Somewhere deep in my heart, I honestly believed that Wonwoo's feelings for Nayoung would be a phase.

I believed that half of the appeal to Nayoung was how new she was. She was this girl-next-door looking girl with a mysterious past. She was one of the few people in the entire town who moved from a city to our side of the country. It was perfectly understandable that she was going to create buzz around here. And then, in the end, I was not surprised that Wonwoo was one of the many who fell for the charm of it all.

What did surprise me, was how long the buzz seemed to last.

I was surprised she was not a phase.

"Do you think she'd agree to hang out with me?" Wonwoo asked.

Because I had work today, Wonwoo had taken it upon himself to hang around the store. It was my turn to take care of the register, so as I worked on re-organizing cigarette boxes, Wonwoo sat on a stool behind the counter and watched me work. Because he could.

"Why wouldn't she?" I answered half-heartedly. I was finding it increasingly difficult to actually care about Wonwoo's dilemma regarding Nayoung. It felt like she was all we talked about these days.

It was easier to be a good sport when we were in school. There, Soonyoung and Jihoon-hyung could provide the support Wonwoo needed. With them around, I felt less bad about the fact that even though I was Wonwoo's best friend, I didn't like hearing about Nayoung. It was hard for me to sincerely listen, and while I didn't quite understand why I felt that way, it didn't change the fact that my feelings were real. 

"I don't know," Wonwoo shrugged, "maybe she thinks I'm a weirdo. Like maybe she won't find me appealing at all."

I hated this talk the most. I hated the way he would talk poorly about himself, because as far as I knew, Wonwoo was the best person on earth. How could someone, or rather, a nobody like Nayoung, even dare think Wonwoo was a weirdo, or somehow unworthy? There was nobody as great as Wonwoo. 

"How about instead of worrying about ridiculous things like that, why don't you start planning ways to approach her?" Even though I was tired of talking about Nayoung, I was far more bothered by his inaction. I rather Wonwoo actually pull moves and then hurt my feelings than watch him not do anything at all.

He seemed to like the idea of this, and the furrow in his brows started to relax as he started to think of ways to approach her. Eventually, he turned his attention to me once more and said, "should I cut my hair? Maybe it'll give me a little boost you know, to come off as more approachable."

I gave him another half-assed answer, and before he could say anything else, I turned away to do "inventory," and left him there, mumbling to himself. I could hear him talking about it as I walked the store, and all of it was about Nayoung.

The next day at school, everything had seemingly returned to normal. We walked to school together, we ate lunch together, we spent our breaks together, and at the end of the day, we once more agreed to walk home together. And all of it was discussed with no mention of Nayoung. For a moment, I had been fooled into thinking that things were back on track.

It wasn't until I had reached the end of my day and I went looking for Wonwoo that I realized things had gone so wrong. Usually, I would go to the third floor and search for him in his classroom. I would call for him, he would wave off his friends, and we would be on our way.

Today, however, it wasn't like that.

I went to the third floor, I went to his classroom, I asked for him, but his friends informed me that he had stepped out a while ago. Embarrassed, I had to pretend that Wonwoo had told me all about it and that I had simply forgotten. Confused, I wandered the halls of the entire school, searching for a glimpse of a familiar slender neck.