21

Chapter 21.
Holding her phone, Ji Won read the latest email sent by her current client. She was working on a popular blogger’s first relationship book. Most of the advice was common sense from an unconventional angle and she wondered if she’d have benefited from reading such a book many years earlier. Perhaps she would have known how to distinguish a bad relationship from a good one. Working on this book for the last week and a half had forced her to re-examine her relationships with men. Why was she bad at picking them? Was something wrong with her? Are there certain qualities that all bubble gums share? She’d wanted to seek some advice from her client but in all honesty, wasn’t sure he was that qualified. After all, he’d confessed that he hadn’t been in a long term relationship for over three years. So how in the hell was a single man, one who’d never been married, one who’d never been in a successful relationship, qualified as a relationship expert? It really didn’t make sense but his writing was creative and entertaining. Maybe that was all his fans cared about.

“Enjoy,” the Ajumma said, plopping the bowls of ramen in front of Ji Won and her friends.

“Thank you,” they said in unison.

Ji Won put her phone back in her bag and rejoined the conversation.

“So that’s the story of my life,” her friend, Na Mi said, picking up her chopsticks. “After searching for a job for 9 months, I finally find one. But here I am a week later, ready to throw in the towel. If someone had told me that I would be working with the devil himself, I would have declined their offer. ”

“As far as you understand that I’m no longer lending you any money, it’s all good with me,” their friend Kyung Ho said, shrugging.

“Shut the hell up. When did I ever ask you for money?”

Ji Won ate her ramen in amusement as she watched them fight. She glanced at another friend of theirs and they both rolled their eyes.

“So whenever we go out together and you don’t pay, what do you think I use to pay your share? Air?”

Na Mi scowled at him. “Did I ever ask you to do that?”

Their arguing was interrupted by a loud buzz from Ji Won’s phone.

“Ji Won ah, can you please make that a little louder?” Kyung Ho said sarcastically. “My left eardrum hasn’t burst yet.”

Ji Won ignored him and flipped open her phone. It was a text from Shin. Suddenly feeling uneasy, she wondered what he was contacting her for. Should she read it or not? Maybe she should just delete it without even reading it. Because surely, she’d made it clear that she wouldn’t be contacting him anymore. She dropped her phone back without reading the text. But a minute later, curiosity got the best of her and she read it.

Hi.
The hell? she thought to herself. It had been two weeks since she’d last seen him and he’d suddenly found the urge to hit her with a “Hi?” Why?

She closed her phone back then picked up her chopsticks. As she chewed on the suddenly tasteless ramen, wondering why in the world he felt he had the right to contact her, her phone buzzed again.

I said hi. Why didn’t you reply?

Okay, this guy was officially annoying. "Why didn’t she reply?" Couldn’t he figure that out on his own? And why was he so damn impatient? How could he even know that she’d seen the message anyway? As she was staring at the message, shaking her head in annoyance, another message came through.

Hi for the third time. And this time, instead of just staring at your phone, why don’t you use it and say hi back?

The hell? Instinctively, she turned her head and looked around the room. It didn’t take long for her to find him a few tables away, not looking at her and chatting away with a group of young men in suits. She sighed then quickly turned around and looked up at the ceiling. “Oh Lord, why are you doing this to me?” And why the hell didn’t she just go home for dinner?

**

Okay, so he knew he was being a bit childish but he couldn’t stop himself. Every single day for the past two weeks, he’d picked up his phone and found her number. And each time, he had to talk himself out of dialing it. Because she’d made it clear that she didn’t want to see him again and he knew that he should respect her wishes. But he just couldn’t get her out of his mind. Not that he’d tried that hard. The truth was, he kind of liked thinking about her. So everyday, he’d tried not to be an ass and not contacted her. But now that she was with a group of friends, eating and laughing like he was nothing but a distant memory, he inexplicably got annoyed and had to make contact.

He watched her look to the heavens and wondered if she was thanking God that he’d finally contacted her. He chuckled to himself because he knew that was definitely not the case.

He watched her put her phone back in her bag and just had to text her again.

I’m glad to see that you’re looking well.

“Yo, Shin, did you invite us to dinner just so that we could watch you text?”

He laughed and dropped his phone back on the table. “No. And who said I invited you? Is my name T.K?”

“Yes, yes, I was the one who sent out the invite,” the slightly built man sitting next to him said. “It’s not everyday I am in Seoul so I wanted to catch up with you guys. Is that okay with you?” Then he turned to Shin. “But Shin, tell me; who’s the girl you keep glancing at sitting over there?”

“What girl?” someone asked. All four men turned around to look in Ji Won’s direction.

“Please be more obvious,” he said dryly.

“Whatever you want, bro,” T.K. joked. “But who is she? And how did you screw this one up this time? I’m not sure she’s your usual type but she’s fine. Isn’t she?”

They all nodded and voiced their approval.

Ignoring them, Shin watched Ji Won read his text and frowned as she didn’t respond yet again. He picked up his phone again and typed.

I’m fine too. I’m just having dinner with some old friends.

He shook his head in disgust as he hit the send button. Oh gosh, he asked himself, why am I doing this? Am I five years old? She clearly doesn't want to talk to you so why can't you stop?

“So come on, tell us,” another friend said. “How did you screw it up?”

He looked up from his phone. “Who told you I screwed it up?”

“Hmm… let me see. Maybe the fact that you’re texting her instead of just going over there.”

“Or that you can’t keep your eyes off her.”

“Or that she hasn’t even replied to any of your texts. That should be a hint,” another said, before bursting into laughter.

They all laughed and even Shin couldn’t help but join them. It was a rather pathetic scene, wasn’t it?

“Just mind your business,” he said before taking a sip of his soju. As his friends kept yapping away, teasing him on his bad luck with women, he picked up his phone and typed out another text.

What are you doing these days? Editing is going okay but it’s not the same without you.

He re-read what he’d written then deleted the last two words. Wasn’t that being a bit too forward? Thinking it through again, he added them back. But why beat about the bush? I might as well go all the way, he rationalized to himself as he stretched out his finger to hit send. Or maybe not, he thought again before finally deciding to leave out those two words before sending the message. He didn’t want to annoy her any more than he already had.

Still pretending to listen to his friends, Shin watched as he waited for her to read his latest message. But when her phone buzzed, one of her friends grabbed it and tried to keep it away from her. Then Ji Won playfully struggled to retrieve it from him.

Okay, Shin thought to himself. Is it wrong that I don’t like seeing her so happy with another man? And what was he to her, anyway? He picked up his phone and sent another text.

I’m glad you’re reading my texts.

Shin hung his head in shame as he wondered what the hell he was doing. He looked up at the moment she turned around to look back at him. He was startled at first to be looking directly into her eyes, but when he tried to read them, he failed miserably. What was she thinking? And did she hate him even more now? She looked away, however, less than a minute later, Shin held his breath as he watched as she picked up her phone and began to type on it.

**