A Regular

Part 3

I smoothed the nonexistent crumples on my T-shirt and my bang for the last time. Then, I took a good deep breath. Straighten my back, I picked my baseball hat from my table.

Looking good there, I grinned at my thought after checking myself in the mirror one last time.

"Mom, Dad, I'm going!" wearing my running shoes, I shouted to my parents. I heard my mom's 'okay' before I shut the door of my house.

I pedalled my bike excitedly, smiling at my neighbours that I met along the way.

Guess where I'm going, can you?

Nah-uh, wrong answer, haha. No, I wasn't going to meet Irene if that's what you think. I'm going to Chaeng's house because I promised I will accompany her to buy school supplies today. But no, I wasn't excited about the shopping thing. I was excited because I just called Irene this morning. I asked for Irene's number and address from Chu the day after that party. Let's say after a bunch of questions, teasing and more teasing, she gave it to me in the end. No bad things can erase the smile on my face today, nothing.

Arriving at her house, I saw Chaeng waited for me at the porch, playing with her phone.

"Chaeng-ah, let's go!" I waved my hands to her.

She looked up from her phone and smiled at me. Picking her baseball cap, she walked towards me. She just wore a crop top, sweat pants and a pair of sneakers. A small fashion backpack hanging on her back.

"Are you planning to catch someone's eye today?" I asked her while looking at her outfit and her face back and forth, implying something. Seeing her confused face, I planted a smirk on my face. 

"What do you mean?" She asked me, frown visible on her face. She looked so innocent that way, and a little bit dumb if you asked me. Don't tell her I said that, she will smack my head for sure!

"Oh, nothing. Hop on!" I said not want to tell her what's on my mind.

"Weird." I heard she mumbled while wearing her hat, but she hopped on my bike anyway.

*

"Lisa-ya, look at these pens. Should we buy matching pens? They're so cute." She dragged me to the pen sections and show me the pens with various characters etched at the top.

"Look! Pikachu! Chu will like this." She grabbed the yellow pen with Pikachu character on it.

"If you want to buy a pen for Chu just say it Chaeng-ah, no need to pretend we should buy a matching pen," I smirked at her teasingly. She froze and I saw a red tinge on her cheek.

"Yah! It's not like that!" She playfully smacked me to hide her embarrassment. I just laughed at her cuteness.

This chipmunk here had a huge crush on our Chu but never dared to confront her. When I asked her why she just said that she didn't want to change anything among us.

She was scared if Chu didn't feel the same, it will just ruin our friendship. Well, she got a point there. But every time I saw her cling to Chu, Chu seemed unbothered by it. It was a different case if that's me who tried to act clingy to her. She will just shove me away and tell me to stop, saying that I made her sick that way. Harsh, jeez.

That's what made me think that Chu had the same feeling towards her but Chu being Chu, she didn't or can't express it in the right way to Chaeng. It frustrated me somehow but I can't do anything about it. I didn't want to meddle in their love life. I will only observe them for now.

"Okay, okay, I will shut up. Don't smack me!" I managed to tell her in between my laughter.

"You better!" She said sulkily. "Let's go buy lunch. I'm hungry. It's on you because you just teased me!" She continued and started leaving me with a sly smile.

I stopped laughing instantly, realizing what she just said. "Y-Yah! It's not fair. You eat like a horse. You'll make me broke!" I said, chasing her to the cashier. I snorted when I saw her paying for her things, including the pen.

"Shut up or I'll make you pay for my meal for real!" She threatened me. I shut up immediately and made a gesture to zip my mouth, trying to suppress my laughter.

*

We chose to eat at our favourite restaurant nearby, seating at our usual place, near the window. A waiter approached us and gave us a warm greeting.

"Lisa-ya, Chaeng-ah, welcome. The usual?" he asked us cheerfully. All the staffs here knew us three because we're a regular here, even the owner too.

"Yes, Hoon-ie. Give us chocolate and strawberry cake too, please." Chaeng flashed a smile to him.

"All right, coming right up." He jotted down our order and left.

I fished out my phone checking if there's any notification there, but found nothing. I sighed and put it back to my pocket. Chaeng had started playing with her phone, which I can bet, texting Chu right now.

I roamed my eyes around the familiar atmosphere, sighing in content while my mind wondering what's Irene doing at the moment. Just by the mere thought of her made me feel giddy, I smiled unconsciously. I didn't notice that Chaeng had put her phone back to her bag and shifted her focus to me.

"What's that creepy smile for?" Her brow knitted together and tilted her head slightly, trying to think of the possible thoughts I had in mind.

"Nothing, I just thought that today's a lovely day, don't you think?" I shrugged my shoulders, smiling with my eyes closed.

"You're weird since this morning, there must be something happened. Or someone, isn't it?" She smirked at me knowing that she hit the right spot. I averted my head to hide the blush on my cheeks, feeling a sudden embarrassment that I got caught.

"It's just your imagination, I'm always like this." I reasoned. I can still see her smirk but she didn't have the chance to continue her teasing because our food had arrived.

*

We chose to walk back home and hang the stuff that we bought on my bike. Walking like this refreshed my brain and washed away my fatigue. The sun was hidden behind the clouds, providing us a soft warm afternoon. People seemed to enjoy themselves around us. Some busy talking with their peers and some just walking with earphone attached to their ears, head bobbing rhythmically.

"Oh, is that Irene-eonnie?" Chaeng pointed forward and squinted her eyes to a figure standing in front of a café not too far from us. I whipped my head to the direction that she pointed.

"I think so." I wasn't sure if it was her, but her figure seemed familiar to me.

"Let's go greet her!" Chaeng walked forward, skipping her way towards the figure. This chipmunk, did she forget I brought my bike and the stuff too? She could've waited for me or at least help me carry some stuff.

"Eonnie!" I heard her greeted the figure. The figure looked around and smiled when she noticed it was Chaeng who called her. She's really Irene! I felt sudden giddiness inside me, forgetting my irritation to Chaeng earlier.

"Chaeng! Hi, what are you doing here?" She flashed a smile to Chaeng. She didn't see me yet because she focused on Chaeng and I took my time reaching their spot.

"I'm on my way home with Lisa. I saw you from afar and decided to say hi." Hearing my name, she looked around once again and finally noticed me. I saw her lips twitched a bit before she pursed it upward. I couldn't help but notice there's uneasiness in her body language. Nervous perhaps?

"Hi, Lisa." She said timidly.

Well, that's awkward. She was different this morning when I called her. Did something happen after that?

"Hi, Eonnie." I answered briefly to her, still wondering about the cause of her uneasiness.

"What are you doing here Eonnie?" It was Chaeng who asked her this time.

"Uh, I just−" before she could answer us, someone came out from the café. She sneaked her arm around Irene's waist and kissed her temple. What the?

"I'm sorry I took so long, babe. Who are they?" She asked Irene who still had a shocked expression, and maybe fear, on her face. She seemed unable to answer and just stood quiet while looking at me.

A bunch of questions and scenarios were forming in my head when I tried to understand what's happening in front of me. Noticing my confused face, Chaeng spoke up.

"Hi, I'm Chaeyoung and this is Lisa. We're Irene-eonnie's friends." She introduced us to the girl politely.

"I'm Seulgi, Irene's girlfriend." The girl nodded and looked at Irene who's still quiet since Seulgi came. I was dumbfounded, didn't know what to say or do after hearing that.

"Let's go, babe," Seulgi said to Irene. "It's nice to meet you girls, but we have to go. See you around." She waved at us and walked back to a black car parked nearby.

Her words seemed to bring Irene back from her trance. She looked at where Seulgi was going and back to us.

"S... See you girls around." She finally said with stutter evident in her voice. She looked at me, who's still didn't make any movement or sound, for a few seconds and followed Seulgi.

"Lis...." Chaeng reached my hand. I saw her concerned look. Her eyes were trying to ask if I was okay. I forced myself to smile at her. I didn't want to tell her how I feel, at least for now, because I didn't know how I feel either. My mind was full of unanswered questions to think about anything else.

"Let's go home too, Chaeng. I feel exhausted." I tried to mask my confused and pained expression with my usual cheerful tone. She seemed to notice my forced tone but decided to not confront me any further. I was glad I had a best friend like her. The walk to our home only filled with silence and a short talk between us.

I said that nothing's going to change my smile today, but guess I was wrong. Something just did.