"Hah!", Bo-hwa let out a sigh. He was twirling the coffee mug in his hand, as he sat inside the coffee shop, looking out the window.
"phoo!", he let out another deep breath. "Where did it go wrong?" he wondered. "Am I broken? Is it alright to feel this way about another guy in my class?" he thought to himself. "I mean, Chul-Mu is handsome, unbelievably so, he is great in studies, rich, has a killer smile, a wonderful physique and should be huge down there too, right?" he bit his lower lip, as he slowly dove deeper into his imagination.
Bo-Hwa was still twirling his cup, when he realised the kind of thoughts he was having. Once realisation hit, his face turned red and he got up suddenly, pushing the wrought iron chair back with considerable force and hitting his thighs and knees under the table. The pain was very real, unlike his imagination and so were the loud sounds. The entire cafe's focus was on him. He felt himself going even redder.
"OhgodOhgodOhgod…." he kept thinking. "This is a mess, let's get out of here first. He had already paid for the coffee. "Oh God! I just want to dig a hole and disappear…" he kept on thinking as he brisk-walked, while admiring the floor tiles, the small distance between his table and the glass door or so he thought.
There was a loud bumping noise. He had bumped his head into the glass window. The door was a little more to the side. If he could grow any redder from all the embarrassment blush, he would have, but he was already as red as a tomato. He stood with his head against the glass window unable to move.
"That's it. I'm done…what should I do now? They are all looking here. Seriously, why doesn't the earth open up right now and swallow me? Why why why?"
"Umm…sir…", a staff member approached. "Are you alright?"
Bo-Hwa sprang back to life, nodded to the person and rushed outside of the coffee and ran as far as he could without any regard to direction or destination. When he came to, he was standing in front of the subway. He was panting, and realised that his knees were aching. Massaging his right knee and left knee alternately, with his left hand, he took his phone out with the other and looked at the time which showed 11:40 am. It had been 10 minutes since he had left the cafe.
It was a Saturday morning and his classes were finished for the day. He did not feel quite well and decided to return home. He took the subway and after another twenty minutes of travelling, he was finally home, standing in front of the main door.
Jia would be home, afterall she was preparing for her college admission. Last night, she suddenly informed him that a new tutor would be coming to help her. It was quite sudden but Bo-Hwa did not say anything. He entered the door code and the door opened with a loud beep. Bo-Hwa was greeted with an unrecognisable pair of sneakers beside the door. It was unrecognisable but somehow it felt oddly familiar. He walked into the house.
He took a few steps into the dining space and lo, there sat Jia, with her new tutor, at the dining table. Bo-Hwa stood surprised, as he had not expected Chul-Mu to be Jia's new tutor. Chul-Mu was wearing a black turtleneck. Chul-Mu's muscular structure was simply begging to be looked at. Bo-Hwa stared at him, awestruck.