Thursday evening.

At Yeonsu’s request, Jiho was so preoccupied that he couldn’t focus on the book he was trying to read.

He didn’t want to get involved with Yumi if possible, but there was something he had overlooked.

The relationship between Yeonsu and Soomin.

That part was beyond Jiho’s control.

Come to think of it, they had met on Yumi’s birthday because of plans those two had made.

And this time too, if he went to Soomin’s house on Yeonsu’s errand, he would naturally end up meeting Yumi,

‘Yi Soo definitely wouldn’t like it if she knew.’

Jiho packed up his things and left the library earlier than planned.

He got into his car parked in the parking lot.

In the quiet car, as deep darkness fell late at night, Jiho leaned back deeply in the driver’s seat.

He closed his eyes, pressing his fingertips deeply against his temples.

What woke Jiho from his thoughts was the vibration of his phone.

It was Yi Soo, whom he had wanted to see all day but couldn’t.

“Oh, Yi Soo. You’re out now?”

[Yeah. I’m going down the stairs now. Where are you?]

His heavy heart lightened at the sound of Yi Soo’s bright voice.

Jiho opened the driver’s side door and got out.

He answered as he walked towards the library.

“I’m on my way to you.”

Jiho, walking quickly, spotted Yi Soo.

“I see you.”

[Ah! Me too.]

A cheerful voice and light laughter came through the receiver.

Yi Soo smiled brightly as soon as she spotted Jiho’s face in the darkness.

To be this happy to see each other after just one day.

Yi Soo, lowering her phone from her ear, approached Jiho almost at a light run.

She wanted to run and hug him, but not quite daring to do so, she lightly linked arms with Jiho instead.

It was possible in the deserted parking lot at this late hour.

“Did you get out early?”

“No. It hasn’t been long.”

Jiho’s hand gently caressed Yi Soo’s face.

“Next time, if you get out early, don’t wait and go ahead.”

It was difficult to contact Yi Soo because she usually turned off her phone when studying.

It was a habit Yi Soo had always had, studying obsessively.

Even now that they were dating, it hadn’t changed.

Feeling that if she started making exceptions, things would unravel uncontrollably, she had asked for Jiho’s understanding in advance.

“It’s okay. I’ve been waiting for this time just to see you, where would I go?”

Jiho put his arm around Yi Soo’s shoulders as they walked to the car.

**

While Jiho was driving, Yi Soo kept holding his hand.

“Isn’t it dangerous to drive with one hand?”

“If you’re worried, shouldn’t you let go of this hand before asking?”

Jiho asked jokingly, smiling as he looked straight ahead while driving.

At those words, as Yi Soo’s hand started to slip away, Jiho tightened his grip on their interlocked fingers.

“It’s not dangerous at all, so don’t worry.”

Jiho was simply delighted that Yi Soo was holding his hand tightly first and looking at him.

Until now, it had always been Jiho who was looking and feeling wistful, but after hearing Jiho’s song, Yi Soo had completely changed.

Though her work was still her top priority, it seemed certain that Jiho had moved up to second place.

Yi Soo’s eyes were full of affection as she looked at Jiho.

“Let’s spend the whole weekend together after the exams are over.”

“Huh? The whole weekend?”

“Yeah. We haven’t been able to see each other often lately because of studying. We’ve only been seeing each other briefly at night for over 2 weeks until the exams end. It’s too disappointing, I want to see you to my heart’s content.”

Jiho spread his thumb wide over their interlocked hands, caressing Yi Soo’s hand.

During exam periods, there were plenty of couples sitting glued together studying in the library, but Yi Soo seemed uncomfortable even with Jiho being in the same reading room.

So Jiho tactfully disappeared from Yi Soo’s sight.

The reason was that seeing his face would interfere with her concentration.

It wasn’t wrong, so Jiho couldn’t say anything and agreed to it obediently.

As a result, they could only see each other for at most 30 minutes a day.

The only time they could see each other’s faces and hold hands was when Jiho drove Yi Soo home.

He felt a little disappointed, but Yi Soo’s unwavering dedication to her work also seemed attractive.

Thanks to his overly rational girlfriend, Jiho regrettably had to show the virtue of restraint as well.

But when Yi Soo occasionally went along with what Jiho wanted to do, it brought several times the joy.

Like now.

“Then come to my house on the day the exams end.”

Though not for the whole weekend, Yi Soo wanted to be with Jiho for that one day.

At Yi Soo’s words, Jiho’s head turned reflexively in surprise.

“We’ll have dinner together at my house, drink, watch movies…”

As her words trailed off towards the end, there was an inexplicable shyness in them.

Both Yi Soo who finished speaking and Jiho who was listening couldn’t help but smile at the excitement and anticipation they felt just thinking about it.

**

Sunday evening.

Yi Soo turned on her phone.

Zing! Zing! Zing!

The missed calls and messages that had come in while the power was off all sounded noisy alarms at once.

Yi Soo checked the missed calls first.

From most recent: Jiho, Aera, Daeun, Dad, and below that.

Suddenly Yi Soo’s gaze stopped and her eyes widened.

As if her thoughts had momentarily halted, Yi Soo stared intently at the screen for a long time.

Because it wasn’t a saved number, there were long strings of digits instead of a name.

And the last digits were the same as Yi Soo’s birthday.

‘This looks like Minjae’s number…’

She couldn’t be certain because she didn’t remember the middle digits exactly.

One day before things went sour with Minjae, he had told her he changed the last digits of his phone number to her birthday and gave her the new number.

Yi Soo had changed her number after high school graduation, and since she hadn’t contacted Minjae after that, her memory was hazy.

‘Is it a coincidence?’

Yi Soo furrowed her brow, rubbing her forehead with her hand.

As she touched the screen to check the missed text messages, it vibrated.

Yi Soo stared blankly at the number that appeared on the screen.

It was that number that had come as a missed call.

‘Should I answer? Should I ignore it?’

Yi Soo hesitated, then pressed the call button on the prolonged ringing.

“Hello.”

[…..]

“Hello?”

[Yi Soo… It’s me, Minjae.]

“Ah…”

Though she had thought it might be Minjae, when she actually heard his voice, Yi Soo was so flustered she was momentarily speechless.

[It’s been a while.]

A cautious voice was heard through the receiver.

“…..”

Yi Soo just listened without saying anything.

[I guess you’re surprised by my sudden call.]

“…What’s the matter?”

Her voice came out stiff.

It was the first time she had answered Minjae’s call since high school graduation.

She wondered if this sudden call had anything to do with meeting Doyeon recently.

[I just thought of you. I was curious how you’ve been doing.]

“I’m doing fine.”

[I see. Um…..]

The conversation was awkward for Minjae too.

Though he had made the call, he couldn’t easily continue speaking due to Yi Soo’s cold voice.

It was his first attempt at courage after saving the number Yi Soo’s younger sibling had given him a few days ago.

“…..”

Yi Soo sighed silently.

Though she felt nothing for Minjae now, the problem was that thinking of him naturally brought up memories of past events.

They were memories she didn’t want to think about.

“If you have nothing else to say…”

[Right. I’ll hang up for today then.]

With those words, the call abruptly ended.

“Hah… What was that? Why did he call?”

It was a call with no purpose or content.

After the call ended, Yi Soo tilted her head in confusion.

How did Minjae know her changed number?

There were only a handful of high school friends who knew this number.

**

Monday night, in front of Yi Soo’s house.

“Yi Soo… I have something to tell you.”

Jiho cautiously opened his mouth to Yi Soo, who was about to get out of the car.

“I thought you might feel bad if you found out later. You might misunderstand unnecessarily…”

Jiho held Yi Soo’s hand and met her gaze.

“What is it?”

Yi Soo turned to face Jiho.

“Mom asked me a favor, so I’m supposed to go to your house, I mean, Aunt Soomin’s house tomorrow.”

Yi Soo blinked her widened eyes a few times.

“Mom has something she wants me to give to Aunt Soomin, so I’m going to deliver that.”

“Okay. Go ahead. You just need to give her the thing and come back, right?”

“But… I think I’ll have to stay for dinner too. Aunt Soomin has been asking me to come over for a meal for a while, and I’ve been putting it off for various reasons. When she heard I was coming tomorrow, she said she’d prepare dinner. Mom already made the promise without asking me. Since Mom doesn’t know about our relationship yet, it’s hard to explain. I felt awkward just flat out refusing.”

Jiho explained the situation.

The conclusion was that it was difficult to refuse because it was his mother’s request.

Yi Soo, who had been nodding as she listened to Jiho’s words, slightly furrowed her brow.

‘It seems too selfish to ask him to cancel plans that have already been made, considering only my position.’

Since Jiho was close enough to call Soomin “aunt”, there was no reason for him to decline a dinner invitation if it weren’t for Yi Soo.

It wasn’t enough that they were together on Yumi’s birthday, now Jiho would be having dinner at Yi Soo’s house.

‘Yumi probably knows by now if he’s set to go tomorrow.’

Imagining Yumi’s face, likely pleased about this, Yi Soo felt unhappy.

Jiho, watching Yi Soo’s changing expressions, swallowed dryly.

“Yi Soo…”

“Then… let’s go together tomorrow.”

Yi Soo spoke slowly, as if she had made some decision.

“Let’s go to my house together. That works, right?”

Thinking of Soomin, who had marked Jiho as a potential husband for Yumi in the future, Yi Soo couldn’t possibly let Jiho go alone.

She felt the situation would become even more complicated if Wonjin joined Jiho for dinner in Yi Soo’s absence.

It seemed better to reveal the truth before Soomin fell into an even bigger misunderstanding.

It might be a bombshell announcement for Soomin and Yumi.

Yi Soo had wanted to avoid such a situation, but now that this had happened, she couldn’t pretend not to know anymore.

“…Will that be okay? I’m worried it might be uncomfortable for you.”

Jiho asked worriedly at Yi Soo’s words.

Though Yi Soo hadn’t explained in detail, he had guessed that things weren’t good between Soomin, Yumi, and Yi Soo.

“Of course. It’s fine. It’s my house after all.”

Yi Soo couldn’t imagine what situation would unfold tomorrow, but she had thought that such a day would come eventually.

She hadn’t even gone home last week, using studying as an excuse, but now that she was going, she thought she should tell Wonjin in advance too.

“What time are you supposed to go?”

“6 o’clock.”

“Just in time for dinner. We have to eat anyway, so let’s go and have dinner.”

Yi Soo gave a faint smile to Jiho, who was looking at her with worried eyes.

“I’m more worried about whether you’ll be okay.”

Yi Soo suddenly looked at Jiho with concern.

“…Why me?”

“Because of my dad. I’m planning to see him too since it’s been a while since I went home.”

“Ah…”

“Dad might ask you a lot of questions and make you feel pressured. My dad tends to be a bit sensitive when it comes to my affairs.”

Suddenly thinking about meeting Yi Soo’s father, tension appeared on Jiho’s face.

He was also flustered as it seemed the situation had changed from a simple errand for his mother to greeting his girlfriend’s father.

Yi Soo smiled and patted Jiho’s shoulder.

“But you don’t need to worry too much. Dad can’t do anything against me. If he gets too much, I’ll stop him.”

“Okay. Anyway, it’s nice that we can see each other for longer tomorrow.”

“Thanks for driving me. Get home safely.”

Yi Soo lightly kissed Jiho’s cheek and got out of the car.

She let out a long sigh at the thought of going home for dinner tomorrow.