Chapter 100
“What are you doing for dinner tonight?”
“Ah, the dorm cafeteria serves dinner. I’ll just eat that.”
Fortunately, my answer came out calmly. After that, I kept a firm grip on my senses and focused on the conversation with my parents.
A short vibration came from the phone in my hand. A notification appeared on the screen that a message had arrived from Ryu Eun-seok, but I deliberately didn’t check it. I couldn’t afford to get distracted again by sending a reply.
Two hours later, my dad’s car arrived at school. The dormitory entrance was crowded with students moving their luggage, so we couldn’t park right in front and had to stop at a parking lot a little ways away.
As I opened the trunk and started taking out my bags one by one, a white foreign car backed into the empty space next to us. Without even needing to read the license plate, I recognized the familiar silhouette at once.
It was Ryu Eun-seok’s car.
My face flushed and my heart started pounding right away. Amid the rush of happiness, warning lights flashed in my head. It would be a disaster if my parents found out.
I had always had many trivial conversations with my parents, but love had never been a topic. Occasionally, my mom would ask if there was anyone I liked. What had my reaction been back then?
I would frown and give a passionate speech about how low the standards of guys these days were. And now, I was dating one of those very guys I had insulted en masse. Not knowing how my parents would react made it even scarier.
Ryu Eun-seok was quick-witted, so he would pretend not to know me at all. He had to. I desperately tried not to look to the side. The heat had subsided, but my forehead was beaded with sweat.
“We’ve got everything. Let’s go. It’s heavy.”
I purposely made a fuss to keep my parents’ gaze from turning sideways. With the extra-large panda doll in my arms, I hurried forward, and my parents also picked up their bags and walked.
“Hello.”
But Ryu Eun-seok, getting out of his car, betrayed my will as if to flaunt it. My parents’ eyes went wide at the sudden greeting from beside us.
“I’m Ryu Eun-seok, Sang-hee’s classmate.”
Ryu Eun-seok bowed his head to my parents in greeting. My mouth fell open. I glared at him as if to ask what on earth he was doing, but he kept his eyes only on my parents.
“Oh my, a friend of Sang-hee’s? You’re very tall.”
“Do you live in the dormitory here?”
“Yes, my home is in Cheonan. I’ve been living in the dorm since this year.”
“Cheonan is right next door. Did you come here alone carrying all your luggage?”
“You should have contacted Sang-hee. We could have given you a ride.”
My parents were very pleased to see Ryu Eun-seok. And they had good reason—since graduating elementary school, I had never brought anyone home as a friend, nor had I even told them I was going out somewhere with a friend.
Though they never showed it outwardly, my parents had always worried about my social relationships. There was even a time when they suspected I might actually be being bullied and disguising myself as a voluntary loner.
But when Ryu Eun-seok came over first and greeted them politely as my classmate, my parents’ faces brightened at once.
“It must be heavy. Let me carry that for you.”
Ryu Eun-seok took the bag containing the bedding set from my mom. His nerve was extraordinary. Watching this, I half-hid my face behind the large panda doll.
“Oh, no, thank you. Was it Eun-seok? Where is your luggage, Eun-seok? We’ll help you carry it.”
“I already left my luggage in front of the entrance. Please give me that too.”
The man, even taking the heavy bag containing a mini fan, a laptop, and various electronic devices, walked ahead with my dad. My dad, admiring his daughter’s friend’s handsome looks, couldn’t hide his appreciation.
“He’s tall and extremely good-looking.”
My mom, her hands much lighter now, poked my side with her elbow. It was a compliment Ryu Eun-seok must have heard to the point of exhaustion since birth.
“So he’s a famous guy.”
My sullen voice was muffled by the doll. I was glad I had brought the panda doll.
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