“But… why?” Yejun said, stepping aside as I pushed open the front door and dropped the snacks onto the metal table.
I sat down and kicked out the other metal chair, gesturing for him to sit. “Because you always get me my favorite food to make up for annoying me,” I said. “So here is your banana-melon-ginseng monstrosity.”
He stood awkwardly beside the table, eyeing the food like it was a trap. I sighed and dropped my gaze to my lap, fidgeting with the hem of my skirt. “About Jihoon,” I said. “I did that mission so I could stay in Seoul. My family is moving to Hokkaido, and if I don’t get a promotion, I have to go with them. I wanted to stay here. I wanted to stay with”—I dared to glance up, losing all my courage once my gaze locked with Yejun’s—“with you,” I finished quietly.
Yejun sat down slowly, blinking at the snacks like I’d presented him with radioactive rocks. Then, abruptly, he folded over laughing.
My face burned. “What?” I said. “Why are you—”
“Mina,” he said, wiping back tears of laughter. “When I told you I loved mixing banana and melon milk with red ginseng candy, I wasjoking.”
He flopped over on the table, laughing even harder while I felt my whole face heat up. “Who jokes about that?” I said. “I just thought you were a weirdo! Is that really so hard to believe?”
He couldn’t answer, too busy laughing. It turned out his laughter was contagious, because despite everything, I felt a smile creep across my face. I started to laugh too once I realized the cashier probably thought we’d lost our minds, crying-laughing over a couple bottles of milk.
But my laughter didn’t last long, because something tickled my throat, and I had to turn away to hide a grating cough in my sleeve.
Yejun quickly calmed down and opened the banana milk, offering me a sip. I waved it away, so he opened the melon milk for me, which I downed in a few gulps.
“Are you okay?” Yejun said.
I nodded, though my eyes had started watering from all the coughing. “It’s the fine dust,” I said, gesturing to the gray sky.
Yejun scowled and shook his fist up melodramatically at the hazy sky. “I’d fight the sky for you, if I could,” he said. “Actually, maybe I can do you one better.”
He pulled out his phone and quickly searched for something, then swept the snacks into the plastic bag and reached for my hand. “Let’s go back a few days,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to run the scenario first?”
“Already did,” he said with a wink.
“When could you possibly have done that?”
Yejun sighed. “I thought you’d realized by now that I am a huge loser and my only hobby is running imaginary scenarios. Most of them involve you. Adjusting them by a few hours is just some quick mental math.”
“Is this why you’re so good at calculus?” I said, breezing right over the “most of them involve you” comment.
“So I can take you on beautiful and seemingly spontaneous dates?” he said. “Of course.”
My mind latched onto the worddates, and I couldn’t help but smile. I reached for Yejun’s hand and laced my fingers with his.
As his magic flowed through me, it felt like I was standing under a waterfall of light, its coolness smoothing away the sharp, unpleasant edges of the real world. I was tethered to Yejun’s heart, and in our private universe there was no war, no points, no final exam. Nothing but the song of our heartbeats together.
When the indigo haze cleared, we were standing under a clear blue sky.
“Nowthis is perfect,” Yejun said. He glanced down at the bag on his other hand, then set it on the table. “Well, almost perfect. How about I get you myactualfavorite snack, for future reference, and we can share it?”
“Yes please,” I said, glaring accusingly at the ginseng candiesthat were spilling out of the bag onto the table. He smiled as he stood up, ruffled my hair, then headed back inside CU.
For a moment, I allowed myself to think that everything would be fine. Yejun was happy with me again, so he would help me figure a way out of my mission. I would find Hana, I wouldn’t start a war, and everyone would be safe. It was easy to be an optimist when the sun was out.
It was a beautiful thought for all of five seconds. Until I saw who was crossing the Bulgwang stream.
There I was, in my school uniform, clutching a bag of honey butter chips and walking across the stepping stones. Jihoon was following behind me, his backpack on his back and mine on his front.
This was the day Jihoon had given me the bracelet.
Jihoon looked over his shoulder, and I quickly turned away so he wouldn’t see another Mina gawking at him. Through the fogged window, I could see Yejun’s silhouette inside CU, making his way down the candy aisle.
