"Read my note yet?" His voice was just as sweet coming out as it was within my ears, flowing through me. My eyes darted towards the face, seeing him again. He was in my class. I stared at his face, watching the smile stretch across his face, and his fingers moved across my hand. I looked down and instinctively pulled back.
"No, what note?" I asked, taking a step back now to be a little more balanced and looking him over. He had completely made himself comfortable and was watching me intently with his eyes. His eyes, what were they? I watched him reach out an arm, and the next thing I knew, he pulled me closer to him. My breathing stopped, and my body lurched towards him before he started reaching over me. He began opening the flap of my bag, taking out the note, and handing it to me.
"This one. You can read it now or not." He said, placing it in my hand before turning to pick up my phone next. He placed my phone on top of my hand and waved me off. "I guess I will find out." He said, laughing awkwardly, and I could not move. Why can't I move? I watched him laugh, the way his teeth showed, and how his voice still echoed in my ears.
"Unnie, we're going to be late for lunch." I felt her hands land on my shoulders.
I'm moving now; my legs are working, but my eyes are stuck. I can see, but he was the only thing that stayed in my vision. It was as if he was painted into my eyes. His eyes, his hair, his mouth, there was something about it. I felt my legs move, but it was like a dream trance I was stuck in. The moment that the fresh fall air hit my face, it was as if I woke up. His face vanished, my body had control of itself, and everything was normal.
"What was that?" I looked towards Minji, and she had such a sly look on her face. "Do you know him? Are you guys dating?" She teased a little, and I shook my head.
"No, I just- I just met him today." I let out a breath of release and fixed my hair. "So, lunch, where is the cafe?" I tried changing the subject, and placing my phone and note in my back pocket.
"Sure," She began moving towards the right side of campus. I actually have never gone to that side of campus. This was one thing about the university. I enjoyed not having to trek across the campus since my classes were all in a general area.
We continued our walk, and I knew she was going to continue to bring him up, but I did not know when. She continued talking, asking me about my favorite music to study and places I enjoyed studying. It was not long before she was trying to schedule time for us to study together, and somehow, I found myself agreeing. She was enjoyable to be around, and her free-spirited energy was something I felt like I needed.
After a few minutes of just walking and talking, I found myself next to this little petite cafe. They had cute little booths you could sit on. We walked through the door, and I smelled coffee, pastries, and little sandwiches all through the building. I could hear my stomach growling, and she would hear it like an alarm, taking the initiative to move quickly to the front counter.
"2 coffee lattes and 2 Gilgeori sanwiches." She ordered, taking out her wallet and pulling a card out to pay. I smiled as she looked back at me. "Is this okay? I'm sorry I didn't ask what you wanted. I figured we might just have the same taste." She said.
"No, it's fine. I actually like them." I encouraged her and stood closer to her. "Next time, Unnie will pay."
I began grabbing the coffees as they came one by one, and she took ahold of the sandwiches, scanning the room and looking for the perfect booth. She chose the one closest to the window, and I found myself walking step by step behind her. She sat down excitedly, ready to eat. She picked up her first slice of sandwich before I could even sit down. Her face went into the longest side of its triangle shape before pulling back and revealing her first bite. I pushed the coffee forward to her and looked my sandwich over before taking a bite from the corner.
"So, what's his name?" She asked, her mouth showing remnants of the food in the corners of her smile.
"I honestly don't know. I met him in my lecture this morning." I told her, taking one bite.
"Wait, you met him this morning? Do you two have classes together? Wow." She looked so impressed, turning her head to think more. "What does the note say?"
"I haven't read it yet." I laid the sandwich on my plate so I could take a drink of the coffee.
"Do you think he's cute? Maybe he is into you." She nudged my foot a little under the booth, and I looked up at her.
"I-I don't know," I said shyly, thinking about how I treated him this morning. I tend to believe that it does not take long for people to not like me if they're around me long enough. I always come off as abrasive, and I can't help what my face looks like when resting sometimes.
"I think he does." She spoke very low and took another bite. "I mean, it looked like you guys had met before." I listened to her words, thinking. Did I know him? Had I never noticed someone who was around me? I guess it could be possible, especially since I hadn't noticed Minji, but she was different. I am sure that this guy, no, I haven't met him before. The more her words repeated in my head, the more I wanted to look at the note. I tried to push the thought at the back of my head, placing the sandwich to my lips and preparing to take another bite.
"How did you know you wanted to do Psychology?" I wanted to change the subject. It was getting hard to keep up with the day already, and the last thing I wanted was more complicated matters.
She would go on a small tangent, talking about how she wanted to help others from when she was a kid. Her face would light up as she continued to talk and express how much love she had for the field. It was refreshing talking to someone who knew what they wanted to do. She was even younger than me and knew what would make her happy. She shared all this enthusiastic passion she had, and it was a nice energy to be surrounded by. I found myself smiling more and talking more. This was something that I felt like I had not done in a while.
"You are really cool," I told her as I pushed my empty plate forward and took the coffee in hand.
"Not as cool as you." She smiled and then looked down at her watch. "Time to go. What's your next class?" She asked, standing up and placing her bag on her left shoulder.
"Just two seminars. What about you?" She nodded her head in understanding and thought to herself for a bit.
"Geography and Anthropology." She said and let out a shudder. "Ohh, sometimes I don't like it, but now I can look forward to it. I don't have to graduate alone. We'll be together." She grabbed my arm, and together, we walked out of the cafe.
It was kind of nice to make plans with her and think about graduation for the first time. I hadn't even thought about the possibility of graduating. I didn't plan to graduate fully. I had always thought about enrolling back after I had figured out what it was that I really wanted to do. I heard both of our laughs together, and maybe it wasn't bad to meet someone new every once in a while.
We walked back to the middle of the campus, and I waved her off as she went off into the distance. I still could not believe that I had made a new friend. All 4 years of university, I tried to stay focused and limit any distractions for my future sake. The only difference now is maybe she is influential enough. Maybe I will think of something I want to do. I watched the back of her go into the building before I tried to reevaluate my location and make my way towards my lecture hall. I went to the double doors, reaching for the handle before I saw the notebook-sized paper on the door.
'Lectures today, cancelled.'
How fun, I reached into my pocket, took my phone, and checked my email. I noticed that the professor sent an email detailing how he had fallen ill and was canceling class. Well, he was my professor for the last 2 lectures of the day, so now I guess I can study. I let out a sigh, turning around and noticing the note that was in my pocket had fallen out. I picked it up and placed it back in my bag along with my phone. I'll read it eventually. I tried to think about where I wanted to go, but I forgot I wanted to give Minji my number. I wanted to text her since she had plans to study together. I thought she and I could reconnect after she finished her class.
Well, now I was stuck, and I was looking for a place to study. The first place that came to mind was the study booth near my last class, but he was there. Yeah, that was an encounter I wanted to avoid. I thought of the central building; there were plenty of places for me to study there, and I didn't have to worry about running into anyone, possibly. I started walking out of the building, making the trek back towards the central campus to the main building. When I got there, it was like a ghost town. This was what I was expecting. I made my way to the study booth and prepared myself. I took out my notebooks and my green pen, but my purple pen was now missing. Weird. I know that I put it in here.
I pulled out an extra purple pen; this one was more of a flair marker pen, but it will have to do for now. I looked to make sure I was ready, taking out the finishing touches, my earphones. I plugged them both into my ears and began letting my book play. I began working on analyzing the poem the professor read aloud, looking at each word I wrote down. I tried to interpret the next line, but it was not making sense. I went back through looking through my notes, but now there was something I was missing, and I hated that. I paused my book. Looking at my phone, I opened the recording app and began playing the lecture.
It picked up late, but I began listening and correcting my notes. It was like experiencing the class all over again, and that was why I enjoyed recording lectures. I heard myself in the back scribbling down those words as I was doing now and listening to each line. It did not take long before I found myself finished with my assignment, but the recording of the teacher had already finished. I looked at my phone to see if it was still going; it had recorded an additional 10 minutes after I heard Minji and I leave. The door shut, and there was complete silence for a while. I wanted to fast-forward the clip, but something told me to wait. Two minutes into the clip, I heard the door open and footsteps as it approached a desk.