Chapter 48: 36-2

"Getting ready together after a shower, like we're married. It's nice. I could get used to this." His hands come onto my shoulders as he watches my eyes through the mirror. "Slow down there," I reply as I take out my hair drier. Jaewook leans against the wall with his towel around his hips, arms crossed and watching me dry my hair. "How do you make drying your hair look so sexy?" He teases. "Back off, twice is more than enough for one day," I glare at him in the mirror. "Alright, I understand," he nods as he looks down. He pushes off the wall and takes the hair drier from my hand. "Hey—" "You keep missing back here," he touches the very back of my head, which is always impossible to dry completely. "I love your hair," he says before leaning down to kiss the top of my head. I give in and let him comb through my fluffy hair with his fingers as he dries it with the other hand. "Graduation is next month," he suddenly says as he focuses on my hair. "I've finally applied to the National Police University." I gaze up at him in the mirror. I should have seen this coming but I was never sure if his desire to be an officer was serious. "Oh, I see," is all I can say. The school is strict—it's a military academy after all—and if he gets in it will be hard to see him more than a few times a year. I can already feel dread fall upon me. "Nothing's confirmed, I may not be accepted anyway. My grades have improved but only in this final semester." His words are laced with assurance. He's trying to brush it off and assure that he won't make it. I simply take a deep breath and shake the thought out of my mind. He turns the hair drier off with a smile. "All done. That'll be 60,000 won." "Excuse me?" I laugh as he stretches his hand out palm up. . . . He ends up taking me out to dinner. It's a famous spot with good ratings, and I'm pretty sure the prices are high. Sure enough, when I glance through the menu I gasp at the numbers. "Jaewook—" I look up at him with rounded eyes. "Don't worry about that, just order what you want." "No way, this is too expensive." "No it isn't. Your boyfriend's a working man now, remember?" "But still..." "I'll be offended if you try to change my plans." I pout disdainfully at him but comply. The food thankfully is amazing—if it was any less I'd demand to speak to the chef for such high prices and low quality. But it's unnecessary. Jaewook looks as happy as can be eating—as he usually does. As we wait for the bill I excuse myself to the bathroom. The fancy restaurant is dimly lit and exquisitely decorated, and the bathroom is no exception. I'm in awe of the expensive toilets—yes the toilets—which have various buttons to click for music and water sounds. I probably spend too much time hearing all the sounds before forcing myself to leave. I notice that our table is empty when I return so I head to the entrance, expecting Jaewook to be waiting there. And he is. A young girl is talking to him. She's dressed in a pretty dress and her hair is curled elegantly. "I didn't see you at school today oppa," she says. "Yeah," he simply responds while looking at his phone. "Why weren't you there?" "Because." Because? Why can't you just tell her why? I find myself stopped beside a decorative plant now. I shouldn't eavesdrop but I can't help myself. "I heard Nana confessed to you the other day. She said you went out. Did you take her here?" "We're not going out," he says nonchalantly as he leans against the wall with a sigh. "Oh? But she's already told everyone...she's the most popular girl at school, of course you two would end up together." He simply grunts in return and I frown in confusion. Why isn't he just saying he has a girlfriend? Why is he beating around the bush? "Well..." the girl seems at a loss for words. "If you're not together then maybe we can go out?" That's enough. I strut my way over and ignore the girl. "Sorry I took awhile," I say. His face is different, he isn't smiling like I expected him to. "Who's this?" The girl asks as she eyes me worriedly. She seems sweet. But that doesn't stop the hiss from leaving my mouth. "His girlfriend." "Oh..." she says quietly, slightly lowering her head as she creates space between her and Jaewook. "Destiny," Jaewook says in a somewhat scolding way. My eyebrows raise. "Excuse me?" I'm baffled at the sudden loss of respect in his tone and words. "Leave her alone," he says exasperatedly, like he's tired. What happened to the smiling boy from earlier? Did he forget it's my birthday? "Why didn't you tell her you have a girlfriend?" The girl grows even more frightened and awkwardly mumbles a goodbye before bowing and scuttling away. Jaewook puts his hands in the pockets of his dress pants and walks out the door. Did he just ignore me? "Hey—" I follow after him as best I can in my heels and grab his arm. "What the hell is wrong? Why are you ignoring me?" "I'm not I'm—" his eyes close shut and his fingers press against his temples. "Just—why are you always so rude to other girls?" "Excuse me?" "Forget it." He turns away. "Are you doing something behind my back? Are you not telling them about me because you're still going out with your high school girls? Is that what's happening?" The strength behind my words falls by the last sentence. I'm completely baffled by the turn of events—I can't even make sense of what's going on. "No—no that's not what's happening. Fuck—" he says under his breath as he closes his eyes again. "That's not it, sorry, I—" This has never happened. Him being so conflicting, so distant with his words. He won't even look me in the eye. And because of the vulnerability that's suddenly struck me, I begin to doubt everything. He used to be the one that chased after me constantly. I used to have no interest, he was always a step ahead. But recently that's changed. I seem to cling to him now, and he no longer chases me. Maybe he's grown bored of me, maybe he only liked the challenge of getting me, maybe he's lost interest and is looking elsewhere. And while it doesn't make sense when I remember his expression of love for me this morning, right now it's all I can think of. I've become one of those girls I can't stand. Water is already built up in my eyes, my legs ready to take me home, home without him. So I move him aside and walk as fast as I can. "Destiny, wait—it's a misunderstanding." He follows me but I make it clear that I don't want to see him when I shout at him and start running. I briefly see him crouch down, his head held in his hands. I knew my birthday wouldn't be anything special, but I didn't think something like this would happen. ...