comes in waves ↠ kim sunwoo

chapter five

Third Person POV

Heiji was lucky her mother was working until early morning, because she had a feeling wherever Sunwoo was taking her that'd she'd be out all night. She didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. 

Seoho had just kissed her, and now she was in Sunwoo's car, letting him take her wherever he pleased. 

"Where are we going?" The girl questioned, looking over to the boy in the passenger seat. 

She initially wasn't in the best attire, her work polo shirt and saggy trousers weren't comfortable to sit in for too long never mind work a whole shift in. Sunwoo was the one who told her to go inside and change to something more comfortable, the journey was moderately long and he didn't want her being uncomfortable the whole evening. 

"Just somewhere I like to go," he says whilst humming along to the music playing from his aux cord. "I hope you'll like it too."

Heiji nods, fighting the tiredness from her long day of classes and her shift. She knew, however, that she would stay awake in his presence, and hoped she wouldn't regret her choice to accept his offer. 

They shortly arrived to the place Sunwoo had been longing to go for a long time. A place his parents showed him, a place he loved since he was young.

He helped guide Heiji from the car to the pathway overgrown with trees and plants with the flashlight on his phone, laughing every time her body jumped at the touch of the leaves. They soon reached an area where the moon seemed to shine too perfectly on, and Heiji knew why he liked this place so much. 

She could see the waves crash against the sand from the middle of the arch made of bark, leaves and flowers. Some were dead, diminished by the winter air, but it didn't matter. It was still beautiful.

Sunwoo skipped like a child over to the sand, as Heiji playfully followed. It was chilly tonight, but she didn't mind, her heart felt warm at the sight of Sunwoo's bright smile, and she knew for that reason - she was in trouble.

"It's really beautiful." She says, plopping herself down beside the boy who was lying in the cold sand. He opens one eye to get a glimpse of the girl in awe, and he was too. 

"How come we never spoke in high school?" He asks suddenly.

"You know why," she eyes him from the side. "You were one of them, and I had no reason to talk to you."

"I guess... but did you never want to talk to me?" 

"Did you want to talk to me?" She retaliates, and he stayed silent. "Exactly, we had no reason to be friends."

"I didn't necessarily mean be friends, just if you were ever curious about me."

Heiji knew she couldn't tell him about her silly crush, how she was much more curious about him than he ever could have imagined. 

"I don't know, I can't recall that far back," she lies, lying down beside him. "Were you ever curious about me?" She already knew the answer. Considering he probably didn't realise she existed until he actually paid attention to the attendance register being called out once, probably four months into the class had started.

"Nope," he says bluntly, turning to face her. "I just am now."

She needn't dare look in his direction, their faces would be too close and she couldn't handle any more pretty boys right in her face tonight. "Why?"

"Honestly, I wish I knew."

The night continued with laughter, they realised they had much more in common than they ever thought. They liked similar music, they both started studying at university at the same time, they had similar memories from certain places in the area from their childhoods, and they both felt relief that they had gotten on so well. For tonight at least.

"As fun as it's been tonight," Heiji slows her laughter from the story Sunwoo had just told her. "I didn't think this was your idea of fun you spoke about yesterday."

"What did you think I meant by fun?"

"I don't know exactly... maybe, like skip classes to get drunk, run away from home for a few days," Heiji laughs, struggling to come up with suggestions.

"Like we're back in high school?" Sunwoo laughs softly. Heiji nods, he feels slightly disappointed that that's the impression she had of him at the time and arguably still could. "You're right, coming to sit on the beach isn't my kind of fun, but its fun enough to do at this time of night."

As the cold breeze sweeps over the two, as does a certain kind of silence. A silence that does not make them uncomfortable, but a silence which indicates both of their heads are occupied with thoughts, unknown to be of each other. 

As Heiji sits forward, Sunwoo leans back on one arm, eyeing the back of the girls head, which turns towards him. Her fair hair blows lightly as she turns, and Sunwoo can't take his eyes off of her. She stares at him intently, probably regretting the words that come next.

"Have you ever brought Jiwoo here?"

She didn't know why it mattered, or why it was even her business if he had or not. He was with her, but she knew he didn't love her, although that didn't make this situation okay. As realisation hits, Sunwoo's silence is telling - they shouldn't be here. Not like this.

The car ride home was uncomfortable, not a single word was said. Sunwoo found it hard to concentrate and drive safely, whilst Heiji was too occupied in the thoughts circling her head to care. 

He wondered where this sudden urge to pursue the girl had came from. He wondered why he didn't have the courage to leave the girl who had been texting him all night wondering why he wasn't picking up the phone. He wondered how this girl had the ability to turn his world on its axis in the space of a week. He wondered why he found himself looking for her every place he went. Maybe it's because she was easy to spot, as she was doing the exact same.

She wondered why she couldn't settle for Seoho, the boy who gave her so much attention and care, yet it was nothing compared to the small conversations she had with Sunwoo. She wondered why her chest felt tight with jealousy over a boy she barely knew on a personal level until tonight, and how he was ruining her chances of being happy with someone like Seoho so easily. Maybe it's because this was now more than a silly high school crush. 

"We're here," Sunwoo announced, waking Heiji up a little. 

"Thanks," she says, looking awkwardly out the passenger window. The uncomfortable silence creeps up again. "I'll see you around the-"

"It's probably best we don't see each other," Sunwoo clears his throat. "From now on."

Heijis chest tightened again, this time as she struggled to slow down the pace of her heartbeat. With nothing to say, her approach to avoiding uncomfortable situations, she simply leaves the car and doesn't look back.

Truth be told, Sunwoo was only telling her what he thought she wanted to hear, but after seeing her face, he knew that it wasn't that. Heiji wanted to hear him say so many things but that. 

And as he watched her leave, he knew she would have wanted to hear - that he had never taken anyone to that beach.