* * *
Jeongseo slowly lifted his eyelids, feeling as if someone was tapping on his chest.
The first thing he saw was Pyo Yoontae sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Get up and have breakfast.”
For a moment, Jeongseo wondered why Pyo Yoontae was there, then suddenly sat up.
Right, he had slept at his house.
And… the thoughts that had troubled his throughout the night came rushing back.
“You were worried about the dog, right? I asked the driver to take you there after breakfast, so hurry up.”
“The driver…?”
“Yeah.”
Even though he was still disoriented, Pyo Yoontae didn’t seem to notice.
He simply told his to come out and left the room.
Jeongseo stared blankly at his large frame until it disappeared from sight.
His words about his first love floated around in his head: “I got lost in the mountains when I was 8… A white mouse… It just stopped coming one day without any explanation.”
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that the black cat was Pyo Yoontae.
He had never once suspected it, so the realization left his speechless.
But… He still wasn’t 100% sure.
“Hurry up and come out!”
Pyo Yoontae’s shout from the living room snapped his out of his daze.
Deciding to play it cool for now, Jeongseo walked out of the room, still unsure of everything.
Jeongseo felt guilty about staying over at Pyo Yoontae’s place, especially since it wasn’t close to his home.
So he insisted on taking the bus. In the end, unable to win against his stubbornness, Pyo Yoontae reluctantly let his go, on the condition that he invite him over to his place next time.
One reason for Jeongseo’s determination to take the bus was to clear his thoughts.
He gazed out the window, lost in thought, until he realized the bus had arrived at his village.
Despite the heat, he wandered aimlessly.
It wasn’t until he heard Seobok barking that he snapped out of his thoughts.
He was already at the gate.
When he opened it, Seobok circled around his excitedly, the chain clinking against the ground as he moved.
“Seobok, were you okay?”
Woof, woof!
Seobok wagged his tail so vigorously it seemed like he had a motor.
Jeongseo noticed his empty food bowl and went inside to fill it, but his mind kept racing.
“There’s no way I couldn’t find it. I remember everything except the name and face.”
…Not remembering the name likely meant Pyo Yoontae hadn’t seen the note he had hidden, or perhaps he wasn’t the black cat after all.
Jeongseo decided to hike up the mountain with Seobok later to check.
It had been a while since he visited Gangsan Hill, so Seobok looked around curiously.
Whenever a car passed by, his ears perked up, but unlike before, he didn’t rush toward the road and instead stayed still.
Jeongseo patiently waited for his to move again.
After a moment, Seobok turned away from the road and looked at him.
“Shall we go?”
At his loud bark, Jeongseo started walking up the mountain with him.
When they arrived at the spot where he had buried the note, he used a small shovel he had brought to dig under a tree.
The soil had piled up more than he thought, and it took longer to find anything.
Just when he began to think it was gone, he spotted a black plastic bag peeking through the dirt.
“I found it!”
The tightly wrapped black bag had frayed a bit, but it was still intact.
Inside was a small note wrapped in a ziplock bag.
Thanks to the careful sealing, the note was in good condition, and the writing was still clearly visible, though messily written.
[Dear Cat, I’m going to the temple. I’m Seo Jeongseo, the weasel! Wait for me!!! If you get bored, come here.
010-XXXX-XXXX]
Sniffing the paper, he could only smell dirt.
He really hadn’t found it.
Jeongseo stared at the note for a while.
If this was the case… He really might be Pyo Yoontae’s first love.
“It was annoying how he never told me his name and just kept jumping around, all excited.”
The reason he hadn’t given his name was that his grandmother and mother had always warned his not to tell strangers anything about himself.
Jeongseo sat there, his mind tangled in thoughts, before finally packing up the note and the bag.
Since the person it was meant for had already moved on, keeping it in the mountain any longer would just turn it into trash.
Lately, it seemed like Jeongseo was studying the art of frustrating people instead of studying for exams.
The day before his midterms, the history teacher told the class to study on their own and left the room.
Apparently, a student had sneaked into the teacher’s office the previous week and accidentally saw the test questions, so the teacher had to rewrite the exam.
Pyo Yoontae was resting his chin on his hand, staring at his calculus workbook.
He jabbed at the problems with his pen, his thick eyebrows twitching in frustration.
Eventually, unable to take it anymore, Pyo Yoontae turned his head to the side.
His eyes immediately met Jeongseo’s, and he quickly looked away.
The moment he glanced back down at his workbook, Jeongseo’s gaze returned to him.
When he swiftly turned his head again, he averted his eyes once more.
This had happened several times already since Monday.
“If you have something to say, just say it. Stop driving me crazy, Jeongseo.”
Are you trying to piss me off?
Pyo Yoontae’s patience had finally run out.
For anyone else, he would’ve cursed from the start, so he was actually being quite lenient.
Jeongseo’s eyelids fluttered, and his lips parted as if he were about to speak.
Thinking he was finally going to say something, Pyo Yoontae looked at his expectantly.
“Well…”
“Yeah?”
“…You’re just so good-looking. Sorry. I won’t bother you anymore.”
Her words made no sense, but Jeongseo couldn’t say what he really wanted to.
With a deep sigh, he turned his gaze out the window, but now it was Pyo Yoontae who couldn’t take his eyes off him.
He stared at the back of his head in disbelief.
‘…I can’t exactly kidnap him.’
Feeling a strange warmth rising in his chest, Pyo Yoontae replayed Jeongseo’s casual flirting in his mind, and a small smirk crept onto his lips.
‘Well, I am good-looking.’
It wasn’t what he had meant to say, but Pyo Yoontae decided to be a bit more patient with him.
“If I’m so good-looking, why are you looking outside? Get back to your workbook.”
He grabbed his head and turned it toward his chemistry handout.
His head moved limply. He seemed oddly drained of energy lately.
Maybe it’s because of the exam tomorrow. Pyo Yoontae gently poked his cheek.
“Don’t stress. It’s just midterms.”
Jeongseo looked at his in silence, then slumped his shoulders and nodded.
His unusually quiet response worried him, but Jeongseo felt conflicted.
Ever since he found the note while walking in the mountains with Seobok last Saturday, he had been wondering whether or not to tell Pyo Yoontae that he might be the person he had been searching for.
‘Pyo Yoontae, I think I might be your first love.’
But… what should he do?
He didn’t have feelings for him.
Jeongseo let out another long sigh.
“Don’t worry. If your scores are the same despite studying so hard, you should probably quit and find a different path, Jeongseo.”
“…”
What he thought was encouragement turned out to be a threat.
For now, Jeongseo returned to his studies.
Midterms were more important, after all.
On the day of the exam, Jeongseo experienced for the first time how fast time could fly.
He couldn’t believe it was already the last day of midterms.
To make matters worse, the final exam was calculus, the subject he struggled with the most.
He felt like giving up, but it would’ve been a waste after all the work she’d put in.
Surprisingly, Pyo Yoontae’s intense tutoring had paid off, and he managed to score more than half on chemistry, biology, and world history.
According to Pyo Yoontae, he would likely get a 40 rating in world history and chemistry.
English, however, was a disaster.
“Five minutes left. Hurry up and finish marking your answers, everyone.”
At the teacher’s shout from the podium, Jeongseo glanced at the clock.
He hadn’t even started on the short-answer questions yet.
In the end, Jeongseo quickly filled in ‘-1’ for all the short-answer questions.
It was because Pyo Yoontae had told hm that if he didn’t know the answers, he should choose between 1, 0, or -1.
Soon, the bell rang, and the gym teacher knocked on the podium with a loud thud.
“Everyone, hands under the desk. And the student in the back, collect the answer sheets.”
As soon as the gym teacher gathered all the answer sheets and left, the classroom became noisy.
Pyo Yoontae, who had been seated far away due to the exam, came over.
* * *
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Bro it’s plain as day, say something.
Why didn’t you say it
thanks
Why he can’t say it!!!
Thanks