[ys] To Find You (3/10)
A/N: Back again after possibly the longest hiatus. All I can say is that I'm determined to see this story to the end - I'll get there.
Thank you for staying with the story; here's Part 1 & 2 for a refresher, if you need it.
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Yong-hwa blinks up owlishly at her, at the container before him on the table. “What’s this?”
This is not going at all the way Joo-hyun planned it.
She’d planned to pass it to him before they got to work, but Yong-hwa was late today in picking her up, making both of them effectively late to work. They barely had time to say a hasty farewell when they reached the factory, rushing to clock in, which is why Joo-hyun had no choice but to give it to him at lunch time.
A choice she regrets now because she obviously didn’t think about the number of people that’d be in the cafeteria, didn’t think about how public this would feel, especially with Yong-hwa staring up at her like that.
Nervously, her hands creep together, her fingers lacing themselves together even as she squeezes them tightly.
Stop it, Seo Joo-hyun, she thinks fiercely. You’re just giving Jung Yong-hwa a simple homemade lunch. No one in this cafeteria is going to make anything more of this, so you shouldn’t either.
She takes a deep breath; closing her eyelids temporarily against Yong-hwa’s probing gaze, against the many eyes (she thinks) are on them. When her eyelids flutter open, Joo-hyun focuses her attention back on Jung Yong-hwa alone.
“I just wanted to say that I’m thankful to you,” Joo-hyun begins. “For almost a month now, you’ve cycled with me to and from work. You didn’t have to; you never had to - but you did.”
She motions to the container on the table. “I noticed that you and the other guys always eat the um… free… cafeteria lunch. So… today I just made you guys something simple. I hope you like it.”
Joo-hyun turns away then to return to her own table; relieved now that the worst is somewhat over, and that she was able to say what she truly wanted to say. But unlike her, Jung Yong-hwa is not done.
Joo-hyun feels his fingers close around her wrist, and she wheels back sharply in surprise. “What - ?”
But Yong-hwa doesn’t seem inclined to let her go; doesn’t even seem inclined to say anything in least. Instead, he looks down at the seat before him, seeming to deliberate about something.
All the while, Joo-hyun remains uncomfortably aware of the outright stares that the pair of them are drawing. A hot prickly feeling creeps up over the exposed skin of her arms and the back of her neck, and she knows that her cheeks must be hot now, the way they get when she’s embarrassed.
“Yong-hwa ssi.” Joo-hyun starts, at the same time that Yong-hwa interrupts, “Hyun.”
She stills; the nickname is not new - it is something Yong-hwa has started calling her recently. But it is something in Yong-hwa’s eyes, something in the way he looks at her that stops her from continuing. His eyes drift to the container on the table, then back to her, even as a mysterious smile curves his lips.
“Don’t you think,” He says slowly, taking his time with the words, “That eating together would be the better way of showing your gratitude to me? Instead of just dropping off food at my table for me to eat?”
This, Joo-hyun definitely did not expect and so she gapes, caught completely off guard.
Yong-hwa must see this as his opening, because he gives her wrist a light tug, sending her falling heavily into the chair next to his.
All the while, his fingers remain cool and firm around her wrist, holding her in place. And as Joo-hyun’s confusion and self consciousness grows, so does a cheerfulness that Joo-hyun has never quite seen on Yong-hwa before. Even though it is his right hand holding onto her, he manages to open the lunchbox she’s prepared with his left hand, talking all the while as he does so. “I mean,” He says with a shrug. “I’m thankful for the food - anything is better than cafeteria food - but haven’t you ever heard of the saying: food is always made better by the company you’re with?”
Joo-hyun splutters a little at that, tugging her wrist back. “Yong-hwa ssi.”
But he still doesn’t let go; opting instead to exclaim over the contents of the container next. “Yah, Seo-hyun.” He says with some wonderment. “Kimbap, egg rolls, kimchi and freshly made mandu? You know the way to a man’s heart for sure.”
Joo-hyun pulls back again, but she notes that while Yong-hwa’s grip on her is firm; it is not painful or bruising. “Yong-hwa ssi,” She whispers frantically. He reaches for an egg roll, popping it into his mouth and Joo-hyun watches as he gives a little moan of delight. “I can’t… I can’t be sitting here with you…”
Yong-hwa turns to look at her then, his eyebrows lifting in a show of surprise. “Why not? Who said that?”
Joo-hyun curses herself for saying that, because now what excuse can I give? But luckily the answer comes quickly to her.“I always sit with Tae-yeon and Mi-young unnie,” She says, still fully aware that the girls sitting behind them have begun to whisper and are most certainly looking in their direction as they do so. “They’ll be wondering why I’m not at our usual table, so I can’t eat with you; I’m really sorry but I - ”
“Hyun.”
She looks at Yong-hwa then, and somehow, some vague part of her registers that he’s let go of her wrist.
“We’re sitting right by the door,” He points out, not unkindly. “Tae-yeon and Mi-young will see us when they come in.”
Joo-hyun realizes that he’s right. And that she still hasn’t moved, even though she’s free to go.
“I’d just like you to join me for lunch.” Yong-hwa says finally. When his eyes meet her, Joo-hyun feels this weird jolt deep in her gut that rockets to her toes. “Will you?”
They watch each other, gazes holding for one beat, then two.
Joo-hyun opens her mouth to answer.
“Is that… egg roll?”
The pair of them break apart at that; Joo-hyun turns around and half-rises from her seat at the sight of a young man, who can’t be older than her, with brown hair and small eyes, who also bows deeply when he sees her. “Oh, hello. You must be Seo-hyun. I’ve heard a lot about you from hyung.”
Joo-hyun darts a glance at Yong-hwa, who has picked up a dumpling from the container now. Heard a lot about me? As in, he’s talked about me?
She bows too, hastily, taking her seat beside Yong-hwa even as Min-hyuk walks to the other side of the table to take a seat.
“Hyun,” Yong-hwa says casually, all traces of seriousness gone now. “This is Min-hyuk. He works in Packaging too. He’s your age - you’re 26, right?”
She nods, even as Min-hyuk chimes in. “Please, speak freely with me.” The edges of his eyes crinkle up in an eye smile that could rival her Mi-young unnie’s, and Joo-hyun has to smile at that.
“I will.” Joo-hyun says, lapsing easily into banmal. “Please, help yourself to some food.” Min-hyuk picks up his own utensils, spearing a piece of kimbap, while Yong-hwa turns to her.
The playfulness in his eyes has returned. “You’ll speak banmal with him even though you just met him, and I’ve known you for a month longer than he has?!” There is a mock-severity, a lazy teasing to his words that is surprisingly familiar to Joo-hyun.
“We are the same age,” She reminds him softly, “And you have only known me for a month.”
Yong-hwa’s ensuing rebuttal is cut off by Min-hyuk’s own groan. “This is so good.” He tells Joo-hyun earnestly. “Seriously, you’ve no idea how much we’ve suffered over this horrible cafeteria food; it’s a wonder none of us have been poisoned - ”
“This asshole, Jong-in,” a fourth voice cuts in agitatedly, and Joo-hyun jumps a little as another man, much taller than both Min-hyuk and Yong-hwa, appears from nowhere to insert himself at their table, next to Min-hyuk. He gestures heatedly, running a hand through his unusually long hair. He doesn’t seem to see Joo-hyun next to Yong-hwa. “Tried to cheat me into taking the Sunday morning shift for the third time this month. I ought to shove the weekend schedule up his fu - ”
“Language,” Yong-hwa says mildly, and Joo-hyun can’t help it; she laughs.
The tallest man looks at her sheepishly from across the table, realizing now that she’s sitting there with them, but nonetheless he stands to give her a bow, which Joo-hyun returns. “I’m Lee Jung-shin.” He introduces himself. “I work in Packaging with Yong-hwa hyung and Min-hyuk, and is that mandu?”
“Please help yourself,” Joo-hyun tells him, but Jung-shin doesn’t need much more encouragement, taking a mandu from the dwindling platter. His eyes widen as he pops it into his mouth, closing themselves again involuntarily as he swallows and if anything, Joo-hyun is now thankful - thankful that she did decide to go ahead with this, to include Yong-hwa’s friends in this lunch, because they obviously like it and have been suffering on the cafeteria diet for a while now.
“He’s your age too,” Yong-hwa interjects and though his words are acerbic, they are belied by the smile he directs at her. “So here’s another person who isn’t me, whom you can speak banmal to as well.”
Before she can retort, Jung-shin jumps in, reaching over to take her hand in both of his, causing Joo-hyun to start in surprise. Jung-shin’s eyes, however, are playfully imploring. “Will you sit with us forever at lunch, Miss Seo-hyun ssi? It will be our good fortune, to forever feast on such delicious fare.” He casts a haunted look at the line of workers queuing at the counter at the front of the cafeteria. “Don’t send us back to that.”
Joo-hyun chuckles. Now she sees where Yong-hwa’s sense of humor comes into play, how well these friends fit together. Kind of like Tae-yeon and Mi-young unnie and I, she thinks.
Yong-hwa knocks away Jung-shin’s hands, shaking his head. “Yah,” He says, but there is no heat to his words. “That’s my line, not yours. Eat your food and be thankful, but don’t take the egg roll; Hyun made them for me.”
She opens her mouth to object that she made this food for everyone, but before she can do so, she’s interrupted by a hand on her shoulder.
It’s Tae-yeon unnie and for a moment, Joo-hyun panicks, thinking her unnie will either ask her outright why she’s sitting here, or worse, tease her for sitting beside Jung Yong-hwa.
Yet, Tae-yeon is her usual cheerful self, even as she remarks, “I guess we’ve got a new lunch table.”
Joo-hyun realizes then that Tae-yeon isn’t alone; Mi-young unnie is right next to her, and also another man - the seeming last member of the group, Yong-hwa’s best friend from Busan, Jong-hyun. There is a final flurry of introductions, of bows exchanged, before Tae-yeon, Mi-young and Jong-hyun find their seats and start to eat.
Joo-hyun takes it all in: Jung-shin and Min-hyuk squabbling over the last kimbap roll, Jong-hyun passing Tae-yeon a peeled hard boiled egg. It shouldn’t feel this easy, she thinks wonderingly. It shouldn’t feel this easy to fall in with a group of strangers, to talk like we’ve been friends or even lunch buddies for a long time… should it?
Someone nudges her lightly, and Joo-hyun is startled out of her thoughts. She registers the last egg roll being dropped on the plate in front of her and she looks back up at Yong-hwa; his eyes alight in exasperated amusement.
He puts a pair of chopsticks in her hand. “Eat.”
His voice is firm, but his smile sincere, and not for the first time, Joo-hyun thinks to herself, Yong-hwa ssi has a really nice smile.
Joo-hyun spears the egg roll, popping it into her mouth.
And that’s how it all starts.