TWMY 10

Chapter 10 …

I scratched the back of my head, having nothing to say, and continued eating.

“Have you thought about which club you’re going to join?”

“Not yet. But do I really have to join a club?”

glanced at me sideways and looked up.

“Why? No interest?”

“Yeah. I don’t really have anything I want to join.”

“Are there people who don’t join clubs? I don’t really know anyone like that. If you don’t care, just join the photography club.”

“Photography club?”

nodded.

“There’s a clubroom, so you can study there during exam period. And there aren’t many people, so it’s fine. Ah, or do you like crowded places?”

채현 stared at my face. Feeling the attention, my ears grew hot for no reason.

I shook my head while looking down at my lunch tray.

“I don’t really like crowded places.”

“Then it doesn’t matter. Think about it.”

I nodded, but then I became curious. Why was recommending the photography club to me?

“Is there a reason you’re recommending it?”

I secretly hoped it might be the same club as him.

placed his spoon down and spoke.

“Some chaos happened and a lot of kids left the club.”

If people left in droves because of chaos, that wasn’t a good thing, right? Was that really a reason to recommend it? I blinked at him, and continued calmly.

“If the number of members drops below the limit, the club gets disbanded and the clubroom gets taken away. One of my friends is the club president of that mess. He’s been crying and freaking out, saying he absolutely can’t lose the clubroom.”

“Oh.”

My mouth fell open. I understood immediately. So the photography club was on the verge of collapse, and he was recommending it to save it.

“I see…”

I nodded calmly. 채현 really had no feelings toward me at all. I was reminded of that again.

If anyone else had said it, I would’ve said, ‘Then don’t join the photography club!’ but since it was 채현, I understood easily. A good-hearted friend thinking of his friend. Truly admirable.

“Then what about you? Which club are you in?”

I asked without much expectation. I was poking a sausage with my chopsticks.

“Photography club.”

채현 said.

I lifted my eyes from the sausage. I met his gaze.

“Y-you’re in the photography club too?”

“Yeah.”

Huh? My mouth opened slightly without me realizing it. 채현 seemed to notice my expression and let out a small laugh.

“You thought I was trying to shove you into a dying club I wasn’t even part of.”

“Ah, it’s not like that. You just explained it in a confusing way.”

“I thought I’ve been pretty nice to you. Guess you saw me as trash.”

“No! That’s not it! I never thought that!”

“I guess I need to be nicer to you?”

No, I had never thought of him that way at all. But his words made my heart flutter.

What exactly… was he planning to do to me? How? Was he being specific?

My heart thumped loudly. His smiling face was too radiant. Ah, dazzling.

I bit my lip and lowered my head.

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? I was joking.”

“I swear I’ve never thought of you that way.”

채현 laughed out loud.

“Okay. But if you didn’t, then how did you see me?”

The question came out of nowhere. My eyes rolled around. It felt like an unexpected attack.

Ah… I, I see you as—

I couldn’t say it out loud and just blinked.

“You’re a good person. You bicker with 서연 sometimes, but you’ve never really fought. You’ve got a good personality, you’re popular, and I don’t think anyone sees you badly.”

Wait. Why did my answer go completely off track? Even I didn’t know what I was saying anymore.

I bit my lip, embarrassed.

채현’s lips curved upward.

“Why are you biting your lip?”

At his words, I immediately let go of my lip.

“Huh? Oh, it’s just a habit.”

“That’s a bad habit. You should fix it.”

“…Oh, really? Is it that bad?”

Suddenly my habit was being criticized. I fiddled with my lips and lowered my head.

“By the way, you think I have a good personality?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve never really heard that before. If you see me that way, then maybe it’s true.”

I was about to bite into the sausage stuck on my chopsticks when spoke again.

“So think carefully about the photography club. I’m there—good personality, popular me.”

He copied my words exactly.

Ah, I should really sew this mouth shut.

I nodded while chewing the sausage.

Lying in bed, I thought.

More and more students were starting to join clubs. After that day, never brought up the club again, but it felt like a serious mission to me, so I had to be careful in choosing.

Originally, during treatment, I tried not to talk to 채현 as much as possible—but every time I met him, I ended up forgetting everything and blabbering. That was my problem.

It was already exposed anyway, so did it matter? Just as I tried to think positively, a devil with horns suddenly appeared in my mind and blocked me.

Are you a dog? Do you go when calls you and leave when he says so? No matter how much you like him, you don’t have to do everything you never even planned.

Right. The club wasn’t in my plan. Yeah. I didn’t need to follow everything.

But as soon as I settled my thoughts, another angel with wings appeared and persuaded me.

Eunsem-ah, think carefully. This is a perfect chance to do something with . There’s even a clubroom. You can study there. Can’t you picture it? Your pink future?

Once the angel left, my heart wavered again. So what if it’s a club? Plans are meant to change. Plans are never kept anyway.

The angel and devil fought fiercely inside me.

What if I joined and never came to the clubroom or participated? Then I’d just end up hurting myself. I’d be the only one left disappointed.

“Ah… this is hard.”

I stretched out on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

At the end of the battle, the devil raised the flag of victory.

“No. I never even planned to join a club. Just because I like someone doesn’t mean I should go that far.”

I shook my head firmly.

I decided not to join any club.

“Hey, did you guys join a club?”

While sitting on the school steps with drinking warm milk, our classmate suddenly sat between us and asked.

and I both turned our heads to look at him. He glanced left and right, then looked forward as if nothing mattered.

“I joined the swimming club. My already wide shoulders are about to get even wider.”

He stared into the distance dramatically.

“…What’s wrong with him…”

I said, but ignored it completely.

The three of us had become friends in a school where none of us had friends at first, and it was kind of funny how it happened.

During PE class, I went out wearing my gym clothes and saw already there, standing in line alone, while was lying under a tree.

I didn’t know whether to stand behind 김나현 or not and wandered awkwardly before finally sitting down.

But strangely, no one else came out. Only when the pre-bell rang did we realize something was wrong.

“Hey, why aren’t you coming to PE?”

The guy who had stood up from the shade walked over and asked. I shook my head and looked at 김나현.

She looked at us for a moment and said, “Looks like the class location changed,” and started walking.

It turned out we were the only ones who hadn’t been informed because we had no friends in class.

As we followed her back to the classroom, 강인욱 suddenly stopped us and asked, “Wanna go get burgers? I feel wronged.” It was perfect burger weather.

I looked at 김나현 as if asking permission, and she reluctantly said, “Fine. Burgers are better than PE.”

So we skipped class, climbed over a fence, and ate burgers and fries at a fast food place. Then we sat on a convenience store bench eating ice cream, talking until the school bell rang. Despite having completely different personalities, we strangely got along well.

Since that day, the three of us started eating together, led by 강인욱, and stayed together ever since.

“Why swimming all of a sudden?”

I asked, and he pulled out a photo from his phone gallery and showed me.

“I’ve been swimming since I was a kid.”

In the photo, a boy whose face couldn’t even be recognized because of goggles stood in front of a sports festival banner.

“Wait, did our school even have a swimming club?”

“It does. There’s badminton, sports dance… all kinds of stuff.”

I nodded and looked at

“Na-hyun, did you join a club too?”

“Yeah.”

“What?”

“Science club.”