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“Happy birthday to you~. Happy birthday to you~. Happy birthday, dear Jae-hyun, happy birthday to you~!”
The song that any Korean would have heard, ‘Happy Birthday to You,’ flowed from the children’s mouths. Immediately after, my classmates and I clapped our hands in unison to celebrate Jae-hyun’s birthday.
“Happy birthday, Jae-hyun!”
“Congratulations, Nam Jae-hyun~!”
“Here, take this, Jae-hyun.”
“Yeah, thanks! But Woo-ju, what’s this?”
“If you’re curious, open it. I prepared something you’d like.”
“Ooh, really? You’re the best, Joo Woo-ju~”
However, among them, there was someone who didn’t seem to care at all about Jae-hyun’s birthday.
“What is it, what is it? I’m curious, open it!”
“Looking at the envelope, which looks like a New Year’s money envelope, is it money?”
“Wait a minute… Oh? Isn’t that it? That Google gift card!”
“That’s right. The 30,000 won one. You wanted to have this, right Jae-hyun?”
“Wow, this is the one my mom said she would absolutely not buy for me, so I couldn’t have it! Woo-ju, thank you so much…!”
“……”
That person was none other than Aki, who was only staring at me, no matter what others were saying.
Aki, with her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel preparing for winter, was looking at me. Then, she moved her lips, making a soundless message to me.
[Is this a pork cutlet place, Woo-juchan…..?]
‘……There is pork cutlet among the food that Jae-hyun’s mother prepared, though.’
If I said that, Aki would really get mad.
I was still young, but I had a bit of sense, so I moved my lips to speak to Aki.
[Aki, could you please try to fit in with the mood right now?]
[….]
[…..Aki?]
“Watashi (I) will go to the restroom for a bit.”
“Jae-hyun, where is the restroom?”
“There’s one on the 2nd floor and one on the 1st floor, but you can’t use the one on the 2nd floor. If you go down to the 1st floor, you’ll see it right away.”
“Okay. Did you hear that, Aki? If you want to use the restroom, you have to go down to the 1st floor.”
[Woo-juchan, follow me.]
[Huh? Why?]
“……Jae-hyun, I’m going to the restroom too.”
“Oh? Okay, go ahead~”
Aki’s expression didn’t seem normal, so I got up without thinking.
“Um, Aki?”
I tried to talk to her as soon as I closed the door to the room where Jae-hyun and our friends were, but there was no response.
Aki, not hearing me at all, walked down to the first floor, then went straight to the front door without even glancing at the restroom.
I, following behind Aki, wondered if she had mistaken the place.
“Where are my shoes…….”
Hearing Aki’s mutter, which was barely audible, my thoughts changed immediately.
‘Oh, is she perhaps trying to go home..?!’
“Wait a minute! Aki, where are you going?”
I quickly reached out and grabbed Aki’s wrist, as she was looking down at the floor, trying to find her shoes.
“Let go, I’m going home.”
“You’re leaving now? Jae-hyun’s birthday party isn’t over yet?”
“I don’t know, I’m just going.”
Aki tried to shake off my hand instead of just saying it.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but the force she was using was quite weak. Still, I held on tightly and spoke urgently.
“Is it because I brought you to Jae-hyun’s house without saying anything? Is that why you’re mad?”
Stop.
Aki’s movement stopped momentarily.
I thought it was because I hit the nail on the head that Aki paused.
“……That’s not it.”
“Then? Why are you trying to go home all of a sudden?”
“Do you really not know, Woo-juchan…?”
“Yeah, I don’t really know. Can you tell me?”
However, after hearing what Aki said next, I realized that was not the case.
“Aki is…………….”
“Yeah, Aki is?”
“Aki is mad because Woo-juchan lied to Watashi…!”
Aki looked up at me with wide eyes.
Aki’s blue eyes, slightly wet and trembling, were filled with deep disappointment.
At that moment, a sense of unease arose in my heart, ‘If this keeps up, will Aki start to hate me?’
So, I felt a pang in my chest and quickly took a step toward Aki.
“It wasn’t that I was trying to deceive you. I just…”
“You already did. Woo-juchan is a liar.”
Liar.
It might have been a trivial word to someone, but it was quite a shock to me at that time.
That was because Aki was a girl who hadn’t ever said anything bad to me, from the time I first met her until that moment, four years later.
She always smiled when she saw me, played happily with me, taught each other Korean and Japanese, played at the playground, played house, kissed, and was closer to me than any other friend I knew.
Yet, Aki was now looking at me with resentment and calling me a ‘liar.’ I was so shocked that I started to stutter.
“N-no, Aki. That’s not it…”
“Aki doesn’t like liars.”
“……!”
“……Sayonara (Goodbye), Woo-juchan.”
Aki turned her back to me.
And she was about to shake off my arm, but this time too, the force she was using was very weak. However, I didn’t notice that strange point at that time. Or rather, I didn’t have time to notice. I was so flustered because it was the first time I saw Aki like this.
I just thought, ‘It’s lucky that Aki is weaker than me,’ and quickly held onto her wrist tightly.
“Wait a minute, Aki! Please listen to me!”
“……What is it?”
“First of all… I’m sorry for deceiving you. Really, I’m very sorry. But it’s not like I deceived you to play a trick on you. I just wanted to help you, so… I just wanted to help you make more friends. Really.”
“Friends…?”
“Yeah, friends.”
Aki started to look up at my eyes, which were trembling with panic, to see if my words held sincerity.
Aki, with an inscrutable expression, observed my face for about five seconds, then,
“You know, Woo-juchan…?”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Aki doesn’t need friends. ………I only need Woo-juchan.”
She said something huge that I hadn’t expected.
‘……Sh-she doesn’t need friends? No, why?’
Because of that, I was caught up in a feeling as if I was hit in the head with a hammer. Then, I barely got my thoughts together and pondered.
The reason why Aki was saying that she didn’t need friends.
Then, one possibility was immediately derived.
‘Ah, maybe Aki is shy, so it’s hard for her to approach other kids first, making it difficult to make friends?’
“Aki, is it because it’s difficult for you to make friends? If that’s the case, tell me. I’ll go to the kids first…”
“That’s not it. I just don’t want to.”
“Huh? …Why?”
“Woo-juchan. Think about it. What will happen if Aki makes friends?”
“I’m not sure. What happens?”
“If Aki makes friends, they will also become friends with Woo-juchan, right? Because Woo-juchan and Watashi(I) are friends. A friend’s friend is a friend.”
“Yeah, I guess so?”
“……Aki doesn’t like that.”
“Huh? What don’t you like?”
“I don’t like my friends becoming friends with Woo-juchan. ……… Because Woo-juchan is handsome, I think my friends will also start to like Woo-juchan.”
I was speechless.
The reason Aki wasn’t making any real friends was because of me.
I was quite disoriented, thinking that it was surely because of her complex, her surroundings, or maybe both.
‘……She doesn’t want her friends to get close to me?’
From the perspective of removing potential competitors, it was an undeniably correct choice, but even so…
It was such an unimaginable reason that I opened and closed my mouth like a fool, then barely managed to open it.
“Aki, isn’t that a little too far-fetched? I’m not that handsome…”
“No, Woo-juchan is handsome. Even just yesterday, someone left food in Woo-juchan’s desk drawer, you know?”
“Really? When? I didn’t see it.”
“Of course, Woo-juchan wouldn’t see it. Because Aki quickly cleaned it up as soon as she saw it.”
“Huh? Why did Aki clean it up?”
“……!”
Aki’s shoulders flinched.
She looked flustered with an expression that said she had made a slip of the tongue. Then, as if a certain excuse had suddenly come to mind, she started stammering.
“Ah, it’s because it was something Aki liked. Woo-juchan also knows? The one, the English chocolate with English written on the wrapper!”
“English chocolate? Ah, do you mean the black one in the plastic wrapper?”
“Yeah! That one, Aki likes it so much that I ate it. ………It’s, it’s okay, right?”
“Of course, it’s okay! Aki can eat whatever I receive. I don’t like chocolate anyway. Should I bring it to you if I receive another one later?”
It wasn’t polite to give a present that someone else gave to another person, but at that time, I was so desperate to ease Aki’s anger that I didn’t care about anything. Maybe if she had asked for something more than just food, I would have given her anything.
“No, should I just bring you all the food gifts from now on? You like sweet things, Aki.”
“……Yeah. Because Aki will check it first and give you the ones that seem good.”
“Okay, so we’ll do that?”
I smiled brightly and let go of Aki’s wrist.
Aki blankly looked up at me, then belatedly cleared her throat as if to hide her slightly flushed cheeks, and touched her wrist here and there.
“Ahem…! B-but, Woo-juchan. I’m still not over being angry yet, okay?”
“Ah, I’m sorry…. Aki, what should I do to make you feel better?”
“……Make a promise with Aki.”
“A promise, what kind of promise?”
Aki stretched out her right hand and slightly extended her pinky finger.
“Woo-juchan, will you lie to Aki again?”
“Huh? No, I’ll never do that!”
“Yeah, so promise. I will never lie to Aki again.”
“Okay. I will never lie to Aki again!”
I quickly intertwined my pinky finger with Aki’s. And the moment I tried to move my wrist to join our thumbs as well,
“……Wait a minute! There’s still one more.”
“What is it?”
“Later, when Woo-juchan and Watashi grow a little bigger.”
“Yeah, when we grow a little bigger?”
“We will, absolutely, absolutely, get married…! Woo-juchan and, Watashi!”
I quietly looked down at Aki.
Aki, as if she felt burdened by my gaze, slightly blushed and started to look away.
‘……Marry Aki?’
As I said earlier, I was prepared to do anything to soothe Aki’s anger.
“Okay! Let’s get married. Me and Aki.”
“Ah, really…?”
“Yeah, really. But in return, Aki, you also have to promise me one thing. From now on, make lots of friends, okay?”
I added a condition, quickly intertwined my fingers, made a promise, and even put the stamps by touching our thumbs.
“Okay, we stamped it, right? Now we promised each other.”
“……Okay.”
“Since we made a promise, you’re not angry anymore, right?”
“Yeah, I’m not angry anymore….”
“Then let’s go up to the 2nd floor. The kids are waiting.”
After that, I felt even proud after hearing that her anger was gone. I smiled and grabbed Aki’s hand.
Then, Aki, who recognized my sincerity, smiled brightly and followed me.
As I went up to the 2nd floor while holding Aki’s hand, one question suddenly flashed through my mind.
‘But, if she was going to go home, she could’ve just left secretly, so why did she specifically come down to the 1st floor with me?’
“Hey, Aki.”
“Yeah, Woo-ju~chan. Why?”
‘No. If I ask about something that already ended, she’ll get mad, right?’
“It’s nothing. Let’s go!”
At that time, I didn’t know.
That this promise at that moment.
No, that Aki ‘pretended to be angry’ and brought me down to the 1st floor.
Was all part of her big plan for the far future…
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