Lady Spring

Saeun rubbed her face and began to giggle like a mad woman. She wasn’t making any sense at all. If she got pregnant and had Wooyoung’s baby… Sure, she might be able to trap him, but she could never do something like that. Binding someone to a girl like her… She wouldn’t do that to her worst enemy let alone the love of her life.

The time to leave this heaven was getting closer. Saeun knew this very well. She was just procrastinating from even thinking about it and preparing herself. Suddenly, she heard the pot boil over. Saeun quickly ran to the stove and moved the pot. Wiping the stove, she sighed helplessly. She was so tired. She wanted to run away from everything.

“Umm…”

Hearing someone behind her, Saeun turned around. It was Sehyun, who was awkwardly walking into the kitchen. He raised his eyebrow at her, and Saeun gave him a small smile. She placed the dishcloth down and greeted him,

“I didn’t know you were there.”

Instead of answering her, Sehyun looked around. She explained quickly,

“Wooyoung has a dinner engagement, so he’s out. Umm, would you like some dinner?”

“Oh, if you don’t mind.”

He sat down on the table quietly. Saeun quickly picked up her cellphone on the table and put it in her pocket. She then began to set the table. 

Afterward, she washed and hung the dishcloth and began to leave the kitchen when Sehyun turned towards her.

“I heard you’re Wooyoung’s old high school classmate.”

“Pardon?”

Sehyun has barely talked to her since she arrived, so Saeun was shocked to hear him trying to make conversation. With a nod, she replied,

“We were in the same class in first year, but Wooyoung left after just one term. So it feels kinda weird to call him my alumnus.”

“It was Dongsung high school, right?”

Saeun blinked in surprise. It wasn’t a popular or famous school, so how did Sehyun know the name?

“There is a girl group named PN, and one of its members told me that her older sister graduated from that high school.”

Hmm, okay, but what did that have to do with anything? Saeun couldn’t imagine what Sehyun was trying to tell her, so she just kept nodding. Eating a spoonful of her stew, Sehyun continued, 

“Wooyoung doesn’t have the yearbook from that school since he moved in first year, so apparently, he asked that girl to get the yearbook from her sister. I think her sister and Wooyoung are the same age. Wooyoung looked through the yearbook and told the girl about you. That you were the Class President in his class.”

Saeun’s eyes widened.

“About me? When?”

Sehyun looked up at the ceiling for a moment as if trying to remember. He then shrugged and ate some more rice.

“I think it was last year… It was definitely before we even began working on our new album.”

Speechless, Saeun stared at him. Wooyoung talked about her? She couldn’t believe it. She found it amazing that Wooyoung even recognized her on that rainy day when they haven’t seen each other in 10 years. Especially considering how different she looked now… So how did he recognize her so quickly?

Now that she thought about it, she became curious why Wooyoung was there that night. He must’ve been very busy everyday, just like he was nowadays. 

“Since Wooyoung began working on this movie, he has become very stressed.”

Sehyun explained quietly, and Saeun listened without a word. He continued to eat his meal as he spoke.

“Acting is something he always wanted to try, but when things didn’t go well, he became really frustrated. He couldn’t stop in the middle of the project, or else Jaejun would’ve had a fit. On top of that, we were just starting our new album, so it was an unbelievably busy time for Wooyoung. Even when our album was released, Wooyoung still had so much to do for the movie. Then one day, he stopped coming home.”

Sehyun poured himself a glass of water. Silence fell between them, but all Saeun could do was just stare at him. Finally, Sehyun turned towards her.

“I know he’s a celebrity, but he’s still just a guy too. It’s not like he’s an alien…”

“No, that’s not what I was thinking…”

She tried to think of an excuse, but Saeun couldn’t think of anything. All she could remember was how Wooyoung also told her before. He said to her that he was stressed about the movie. 

Sehyun didn’t seem to care what she was thinking because he continued to eat his dinner. So Saeun quietly left the kitchen.

She walked into her room. No matter how hard she tried, she could only see Wooyoung as a celeb and not as an ordinary man. To her, he was the star she could never reach. To be by his side, Saeun felt like she needed to be much more. She needed to be… worthy. Yet Sehyun was saying something very different. He was telling her that Wooyoung was just a man.

But how could this be? In her whole life, Saeun has never met a man like Wooyoung. 

So it seemed that Wooyoung talked to other people about her. And not recently, but a whole year ago even before they met again. He looked for her in the high school yearbook. Why didn’t he say anything the last time she was in his room when she went through his yearbook? Because he felt embarrassed? Well, this made sense. After all, she could never tell him that she had a crush on him in high school. 

Suddenly, she wanted to see Wooyoung. She felt like crying, so Saeun took out her phone and dialed his number.

“Hello? Saeun? What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just wondering when you’re coming home.”

The truth was, she wanted to ask him why he liked her. Why was he so nice to her?

“Oh, do you miss me? Is that it?”

Wooyoung asked teasingly. Saeun tried to laugh, but she couldn’t. Biting her lip, she nodded.

“Yeah, I miss you. I want to see you.”

After a long silence, he asked worriedly, 

“What’s wrong? Did something happen? Did that jerk call you?”