Chapter 38

"A new beginning - Part 1"

"Finally!" said Taehyun relieved after the Professor finally left the auditorium. After stretching out his entire body, he leaned forward and rested his body on top of the table his was sitting in front of.

"Wow, you really hate Art History, don't you?" said Kim Eun, another first year in the University. She was sitting on the left side of Taehyun while slowly packing her bag, ready to go home for the day.

"It is just so boring," complained Taehyun, "and we always have it as the last subject of the day, how do they except us to listen?"

"I think it is very interesting," said Park Hyun Joo, the young man sitting on the opposite site of Taehyun.

"Yeah yeah, you love all subjects, we already know that," said Taehyun and let out a sigh, "but we can't all be a genius like you." 

"Why are you even going to Art School with a brain like yours?" asked Eun who was now standing up, her bag swung across her shoulder. Hyun Joo simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I just felt like it," said Hyun and stood up as well, holding his bag in his hand.

"You are weird," said Taehyun and looked up.

"So are you," said Hyun Joo, "will you pack up already? You are making us wait again."

"I never asked you to wait for me," said Taehyun.

"But we are going out with the others tonight," said Eun, "we should go together."

"Oh… right… that was… tonight…" stuttered Taehyun, diverting his eyes from his two friends.

"What? Don't tell me you forgot!" said Eun and slammed her hand on the table while staring directly into Taehyun's eyes. He quickly turned his head to the other side, but only then did he realize Hyun Joo was standing just as close as Eun, glaring at him with the same look.

"You know what I think, Eun?" asked Hyun Joo and Eun shook her head, "I think Taehyun forgot about the plans tonight and went ahead and made other plans."

"No way!" said Eun, "no… no he wouldn't do that… not for the 3rd time."

"Alright, I am sorry!" yelled Taehyun while standing up, "you are right, I forgot and I did in fact, make other plans." Both of the young people let out a huge sigh, looking at their hopeless friend.

"I am sorry, I promise to come next time," said Taehyun while slamming his hands together in an apologetic way, "forgive me, just this time."

"Hm…" said Eun and placed her thumb and index finger on her chin while thinking, "maybe we should forgive him, what do you think Hyun Joo?"

"He does seem sorry," said Hyun Joo and Taehyun nodded enthusiastically, "but you will have to make it up to us."

"Of course, whatever you want!" said Taehyun without thinking, but when he saw the mischievous look in Hyun Joo and Eun's eyes, he gulped.

"What… what do you want?" asked Taehyun.

"I think you know exactly what we want," said Eun while she and Hyun Joo walked closer to the intimidated Taehyun.

***

Walking down the University campus, Yoo Jin was taken back to her own University days, thinking about all the fun memories she had from that time. Taehyun had only been going there for a couple of months, but he seemed to have settled in already. In a way, she felt a slight worry in her heart, imagining Taehyun hanging out with a bunch of young University girls, and it only made it worse that he never wanted to talk about them. Every time she asked, he simply brushed her off or immediately changed the subject. 

Yoo Jin was brought out of her dace when she noticed Taehyun standing in the distance and she quickly started waving her hand while calling out to him. Once Taehyun heard Yoo Jin's voice and saw her walking towards him, he quickened his pace until he was standing right in front of her.

"Noona, hi… how… how are you?" asked Taehyun, stuttering through his sentence all the while avoiding her gaze.

"Taehyun, is something wrong?" asked Yoo Jin immediately.

"Oh… no… nothing is wrong," said Taehyun, "it is just… my… my friends…"

"Your friends?" asked Yoo Jin, her heartbeat immediately quickening

"I kind of made a promise to them," said Taehyun while taking in a deep breath, "they... want to meet you."

Yoo Jin's heavy heartbeat suddenly calmed down completely and her entire body relaxed while she looked at her nervous boyfriend standing in front of her.

"Is that it?" asked Yoo Jin and started laughing, making Taehyun widen his eyes in surprise, "I would love to meet your friends, are they here now?"

"What? I mean… yes!" said Taehyun, still confused about Yoo Jin's reaction, "but… are you okay with it?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" asked Yoo Jin.

"I just thought, maybe you weren't interested in hanging out with a bunch of 18 year old's."

"I hang out with you." Taehyun raised his eyebrow at Yoo Jin's comment.

"Very funny," said Taehyun, "but since you are okay with it, do you want to meet them now?"

"Sure, I am not in Seoul every day," said Yoo Jin.

After following Taehyun to the front entrance of the University campus, she saw the silhouette of 2 young people, who started waving their hands with great enthusiasm when they saw Taehyun.

"Eun, Hyun Joo, this… is my girlfriend… Choi Yoo Jin," said Taehyun while introducing his friends to Yoo Jin. Both parties looked at each other with a bit awkwardness, but they eventually brought out a smile and politely bowed to each other.

"So you are the one stealing Taehyun away from us all the time," said Eun to break the ice.

"Stealing?" 

"It seems Taehyun keeps blowing us off to go on dates with you," explained Hyun Joo when he saw Yoo Jin's confused face.

"What, Taehyun, you shouldn't be like that!" scolded Yoo Jin.

"It wasn't on purpose and I already apologized," said Taehyun quickly, but Yoo Jin kept glaring at him.

"You really are hopeless," said Yoo Jin with a sigh before turned her look towards Hyun Joo again. "Were you supposed to go out tonight?"

"Yeah, but really, it is okay," said Hyun Joo, "we just like to tease Taehyun."

"Are you sure? I don't want to ruin your plans," said Yoo Jin.

"Unnie, why don't you join us," said Eun, making Yoo Jin turn to look at her again, "that way Taehyun won't have to cancel any of his plans."

"What?" said Taehyun.

"I… I don't know…" said Yoo Jin, "I think it would be pretty boring to have me join you."

"No, it will be fun!" said Eun, "please join us, you can tell us all the embarrassing stories about Taehyun so we always have something to tease him with."

"As if I wasn't against it already," said Taehyun.

"Maybe I should join you," said Yoo Jin and received a surprised look from Taehyun.

"Then it is settled!" said Eun before Taehyun could get Yoo Jin to change her mind, "now, let us go, we are already late."

Following the small group of young people down the streets of Seoul, Yoo Jin felt somehow out of place, even though she was the one who agreed to go in the first place.

She tried to focus her thoughts on the surrounding rather than worrying about the way people would look at her when they saw a 26 year old woman walking around with a bunch of 18 year old's. She looked up at the tall buildings, the many stores around each corner, the busy streets with more people than the entire Port Town's population. It was everything she had missed in the time she had been living at home. Maybe she could live here again one day… maybe…

"Noona, I am sorry they dragged you here," whispered Taehyun.

"No it is okay, I just hope they won't find me old and boring," said Yoo Jin nervously.

"No one would think that," answered Taehyun and Yoo Jin sent him a smile.

"Actually," said Yoo Jin, "I had been a little worried, that maybe you were embarrassed about me."

"What?" said Taehyun.

"Well, you never told me about your friends, so I thought maybe you didn't want me to meet them because you were embarrassed to have such an old girlfriend."

"No, how could you think that?" said Taehyun, "but… maybe I was a little embarrassed. Not because of you... rather... I was worried you would think my friends were too young and immature."

"Don't worry so much," said Yoo Jin, "I am not that old. I remember what it was like to be 18."

"You are right, I was just being stupid," said Taehyun and laughed.

"Hey, you two lovebirds," yelled Eun and caught Taehyun and Yoo Jin's attention. "this is the place, are you coming or what?"

Taehyun and Yoo Jin quickly caught up to the others and followed them inside the restaurant. The second the walked through the doors, Yoo Jin was hit by the smell of cooked meat and alcohol. She suddenly seemed to realize how Taehyun was finally at the age of drinking, but he never had alcohol when they were together, maybe he just didn't like it.

Before Yoo Jin was able to finish her thoughts, the others stopped in front of an already packed table were every person quickly lifted their head when they saw Eun standing in front of them.

"Sorry we are late, we had some… circumstances," said Eun and gestured towards Taehyun and Yoo Jin. Taehyun awkwardly lifted his hand and waved at his fellow students.

"Hi everybody," said Taehyun and held a short break, "um… this… is my girlfriend… Choi Yoo Jin." Everyone mouthed an 'ah' before quickly getting back to eating their food and drinking their alcohol, as if nothing of importance had happened.

"I guess I was worried for nothing," said Taehyun and shrugged his shoulders, before he showed Yoo Jin to her seat.

"I am getting a beer, what about you, Hyun Joo?" asked Eun.

"I want a beer too," answered Hyun Joo.

"What about you two?" asked Eun and looked at Taehyun and Yoo Jin.

"I think I will have the same," said Yoo Jin, "but… what about you Taehyun? Do you… do you even like alcohol?" The table suddenly turned dead silent and everyone shifted their eyes towards Yoo Jin and Taehyun, before they all burst out laughing.

"Unnie," said Eun between her laughs, "you seem to not know your boyfriend very well. He can drink better than any of us here."

"Really?" said Yoo Jin and looked at the boy next to her, who just had an innocent smile on his face. "Well in that case, I guess we will all be drinking tonight."

"Deal!" said Eun and walked to the counter to order 4 beers.

The small talk went smoothly and Yoo Jin felt much more at ease than she had imagined in the first place. It was even better after she got her beer and felt her body relax a little more. Everything was going so well.

Until.

"Unnie, where do you work?" asked Eun and both Yoo Jin and Taheyun looked at her in shock.

"Ah… I see Taehyun didn't tell you about my… situation…" said Yoo Jin and laughed nervously.

"What…?" asked Eun confused, but when she looked at Taehyun, she just received a glare in return.

"Let us talk about something else!" said Taehyun, but Yoo Jin put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head.

"No, it is okay," said Yoo Jin and turned her eyes towards Eun again, "I am unemployed. In fact, I haven't been able to find a job since I graduated University."

"I… I am sorry…" said Eun when she saw the saddened look in Yoo Jin's eyes.

"No, as I said, it is okay," said Yoo Jin with a smile, "I know I will find something soon, and if I ever forget, I have a wonderful boyfriend to remind me and help me stay positive." Yoo Jin sent Taehyun a loving look until she looked back at Eun.

"Oh and actually, I had a job interview today, right here in Seoul," said Yoo Jin with much more enthusiasm. "It actually went really well."

"What, you didn't tell me that?" said Taehyun disappointed.

"Well, I would have told when we went on our date today," said Yoo Jin, "anyway, I have a good feeling about this."

"I am so happy to hear that," said Taehyun, "where was it?"

"It was-" Yoo Jin stopped talking when she felt her phone vibrate and she quickly took it out of her pocket.

"I am sorry, I need to answer this," said Yoo Jin and got up, "I will be right back." Yoo Jin quickly walked outside the restaurant and answered the call.

"Hello, this is Choi Yoo Jin," said Yoo Jin while holding a hand over her other ear.

"What?"

Hello everyone!

I am posting the last two chapters today, which means this story will officially be completed. I really hoped you enjoyed reading it, but before you start commenting, hurry to the next chapter to read the final chapter of this book.

Love, Annalise~