Childhood Friend Who Sees the Future Utters Nonsense

197 – Side Story – Class Reunion (5)

Everyone who had gathered at the pub and was enjoying a class reunion gathered in front of the entrance because of the sudden news.

In front of the door, Siyoon was standing with an awkward expression on his face, carrying Yuna on his back, who seemed to be fast asleep with her eyes closed. She was even wearing the coat she had worn when she came, as if she was ready to go back.

“You’re leaving already?”

Minseong, who was actually the organizer of the reunion, asked Siyoon, who had expressed his intention to return, on behalf of the group.

That would be the case, since it had not even been two hours since they arrived and it was safe to say that it was just the beginning.

“I’m sorry. I’ll leave the card behind, so if you need to pay more, just settle it with this.”

“Okay. If there’s anything else to pay, we can split it up.”

Siyoon handed over his card just in case, but Minseong firmly refused and snickered.

Although we are just ordinary members of society who earn less than a tenth of that couple’s income, it is not a gathering that we cannot afford to resolve when the time comes. I don’t want to bother my friends any more.

“By the way, why are you crying all of a sudden, Yuna? Did something happen?”

“No, that’s not it. I guess I just had a hard time controlling my emotions after drinking for the first time in a long time.”

The female classmates continued to ask worried questions when they saw Yuna, whose eyes were still red, but Siyoon was able to deal with them skillfully.

In fact, he still doesn’t know why Yuna started crying. Yuna herself didn’t answer, and Seo-ah, who was with him, left the place without saying anything.

In the end, the aftermath was left entirely to Si-yoon without any understanding of what was going on.

It seems like Yuna’s passive skill is to think about things and leave it up to him, whether it’s now or in the past. I wonder if this doesn’t change even as she gets older.

“Yuna had a schedule for tomorrow anyway, so she wasn’t going to be able to stay long today. I’ll pick her up early so she can rest.”

As he turned his back with a bitter smile on his face, looking at his wife who was keeping her eyes tightly shut, oblivious to the suffering of others, his classmates, who had only just learned the truth, gathered together and expressed their regret.

“Oh, is that so? Then there’s nothing I can do….”

“Because you’re so busy. Thanks to you, Siyoon, you’re having a hard time.”

“Hey, if you have a wife like that, you might have a hard time.”

At that sight, Siyoon’s eyes were filled with memories of his high school days.

Even back then, there were often times like this. When Yuna caused an accident somewhere and Siyoon was cleaning it up, classmates who were passing by would jokingly say, “If you want to be friends with Yuna, you have to put up with that much.”

Every time that happened, Si-yoon would glance at Yu-na who was smiling brightly and grumble, “You’re talking nonsense about someone else’s business,” but that wasn’t his honest feelings.

And today, I finally get to reveal to my friends what I was too embarrassed to reveal to them back then.

“… Okay, I guess I have to take it. I have such a good wife, so this is not acceptable.”

As he smiled while looking at Yuna on his back with warm eyes, a scream of ‘Gyaaah!’ suddenly echoed through the pub.

It was mainly from female classmates who gathered near the entrance.

“Siyoon, after getting married, your comments became really sweet.”

“Oh, I wish my husband could see it and learn something too… .”

“The more I look at you, the more I think you’re destined for each other.”

Siyoon couldn’t help but smile bitterly at the sight of the women all talking and making a fuss.

It was something he had expected, but as expected, this reaction was hard to adapt to. To begin with, Si-yoon was not one of those people who was aware that he was as kind or sweet as others said.

“Anyway, I’ll go first. If there’s anyone who wants to see Yuna together next time, please contact me.”

He was worried that most people here would be disappointed that they couldn’t talk to Yuna for longer than he was, so he deliberately mentioned his wife’s name and turned around.

Several of the single classmates at the pub swallowed their tears and pushed his back at the sight of the sweet couple’s backs.

“Okay, don’t be so picky and just go quickly. It’s sad for people who are still single.”

“Ah, I suddenly miss Jimin… Should I try contacting him?”

“Oh, this crazy kid. He was swearing and making noises like that last time we were drinking together.”

It was the moment when Siyoon grabbed the pub’s doorknob while cutting through the noisy air.

“Siyoon…!”

“hmm?”

The moment the door opened and the sound of the bell that had been ringing when he came in was about to continue, Seo-ah, who had been silently watching the situation from the corner, stepped forward and softly said his name.

Because the voice was so small, no one around him noticed it and no one paid attention to it.

In that situation, Seo-ah made a mysterious expression with a gesture that seemed as if she was embarrassed towards Si-yoon, who was the only one who turned his head.

“…sorry!”

“… … ?”

He suddenly blurted out an apology and ran into the pub.

In the end, as a new question took hold in his head before the previous one could be resolved, Si-yoon had no choice but to leave the pub with a somewhat uncomfortable expression on his face.

Daughter.

Only then did I hear the sound of bells and the cool night air passed by my body.

***

After leaving the pub, Siyoon neither headed to the parking lot nor called a taxi. Instead, he wandered aimlessly through the night streets.

Whew.

Then, in the cold night air passing by, I felt a faint trembling sensation as if someone’s body was hanging on my back.

Only then did he realize that his intuition was right, and he asked a question that might have been directed at someone.

“How long are you going to pretend to sleep?”

“… Did you know?”

As expected, he was the type of person who couldn’t lie, so he gave an awkward answer right away. A smirk appeared on Si-yoon’s lips at that.

“I just pretended not to know because I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

“What a shame. I thought I fooled you well….”

I thought my acting was pretty good, but it seems like it wasn’t of much use in front of Siyoon.

Yuna, who was biting her lip in regret, wrapped both hands around Siyoon’s neck as if to say that she no longer had to hold back, and let out a coquettish laugh, “Hi.”

This is the reaction I always get when I feel like I’m at a disadvantage.

“So what happened? Did you fight with Yoon Seo-ah?”

Although it is unlikely, Shiyoon asks the question with the determination to go back and negotiate immediately if they did make a mistake first.

Yuna was taken aback by the rather direct question and shook her head and hands simultaneously, steadfastly denying it.

“No way. You know Seo-ah’s personality very well.”

“I don’t know much about him, but… Well, I do know that he’s the type of person who doesn’t fight.”

Even in high school, he was definitely one of the three quietest kids in the class. Even Si-yoon, who I wasn’t very close with, knew roughly what kind of kid he was.

So from the time I first asked the question, I thought it was unlikely. I just asked because there was a chance.

“Anyway, then why were you crying? If you don’t want to tell me, then there’s nothing I can do.”

Since he had no intention of digging into it, Si-yoon asked again, leaving Yuna with a hole to escape through. There are secret stories between women in this world, so he didn’t want to dig that far.

“That’s actually….”

Yuna also showed a slightly worried look, but she quickly pulled herself together after thinking back to the conversation she had with Seo-ah earlier. If she hesitated here, it would only end up ruining the words and actions that her friend had mustered up the courage to speak.

“Seo-ah, that’s what I said. She said that she liked me in high school.”

As the words he spoke with such courage continued, Siyoon’s steps stopped for a moment and then, as if it were a lie, the wind died down.

While Yuna was secretly anxious about his reaction when he came back, her body slowly began to move forward again.

“… Really? Hmm.”

“What, that’s all the reaction? Isn’t it surprising?”

Yuna blinked her eyes and asked again, wondering if she had heard correctly, as the response was much more indifferent than she had expected.

At that time, a female student who was by far the most popular in the class, excluding her, secretly admired him, but I never thought her reaction would be so indifferent after hearing that story.

Yuna wondered if he was intentionally acting like nothing happened because she was right in front of him, but she quickly realized that wasn’t the case from his subsequent response.

“It’s surprising. But honestly, I don’t really think about it.”

“Why? Seo-ah is so pretty. If I knew that a girl like that secretly liked me back in school, I would be happy even if I were a guy.”

“No, aside from being pretty and cute….”

Since Yuna was trying to look at the situation from an objective perspective, Siyoon thought that she was not aware of the issue in his words and added his words while scratching his cheek.

That wasn’t the important issue for him in the first place.

“I’m not interested in anyone else, then or now. Whether other girls like me or not, I don’t really care…”

“Wow… My dear, now you say that without even changing your expression?”

“… I’m also quite embarrassed, so don’t point out everything.”

It was a remark made while somehow holding back his embarrassment, but when Yuna said something tactless without even knowing his true intentions, Siyoon felt like he wanted to hide in a hole.

A smile appeared on Yuna’s lips as she looked at the sight.

“Then was that why you cried earlier?”

“… Yeah, that’s what Seo-ah said. A classmate sent us our wedding photos, and she said she was finally able to give up after seeing them. The moment I heard that, I couldn’t help but cry.”

“Anyway, I heard you have a lot of sensitivity.”

Si-yoon, who could already imagine how embarrassed Seo-ah would be, couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

When I confessed my unrequited love story, the current wife of the person I had a crush on burst into tears in sympathy. It’s not exactly a funny situation, but just imagining it makes me laugh.

“By the way, it’s strange. We didn’t really see each other often, but I still had those feelings for him until I graduated from college.”

“Seo-ah said the same thing. She said she still doesn’t know why she had a crush on him for so long.”

“I guess that’s the human heart.”

In a way, Shiyoon could understand it a little as someone who had been in unrequited love for a long time.

In the first place, human emotions are something that even the person in charge of them cannot control at will. If that were possible, the world would be full of rational people.

Still, it seemed like Yuna and Seoah had wrapped things up well, so Siyoon was very relieved. Now, he could finally go home with his worries put to rest.

“Anyway, I think that’s the end of the story, so should we go home?”

With those words, he took out his phone and was about to launch the taxi calling app.

widely.

“… … ?”

A hand that popped out from over his shoulder snatched Siyoon’s phone. Since there was only one person who could do this, his dumbfounded gaze naturally turned to the sloth on his back.

When their eyes met, Yuna buried her face in her back as if hiding her reddened cheeks and spoke in a creepy voice, pointing somewhere.

“…Can’t we just warm up our bodies a little bit over there and then go?”

“Over there… Ah.”

At the tip of that hand was a building emitting flashy lights. Since it was around an entertainment district, no matter where you pointed, a building like that would inevitably pop up.

Only then did Siyoon realize Yuna’s purpose and his steps stopped for a moment.

“You said you would hold out because you have a schedule for tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. But… .”

Kuk.

Shiyoon, who was worried about tomorrow, tried to make a playful remark, but Yuna became even more blatant and pressed her body against Shiyoon’s neck with her hand.

I tried to hold back as much as possible. However, after hearing Seo-ah’s words, it became difficult to hold back my suppressed emotions any longer.

The bitter love story of her friend was certainly sad. But more than that, the greatest emotion Yuna felt was none other than,

“… I guess I get jealous when I hear things like that.”

Because I was jealous.

Even though she was a mother of two children, she was still just a woman who reminisced about her innocent love life during her school days in front of her husband.

In the end, Si-yoon, unable to bear the longing gaze, had no choice but to head towards the building that Yuna had pointed out.