SCT-Novel Chapter 13: Time to Switch Seats
Chapter 13: Time to Switch Seats
chapter 13: time to switch seats
“alright, it’s been a while since the semester started, so let’s go ahead and change seats.”
my ears perked up at the words of our homeroom teacher—words as shocking as a bolt from the blue.
weren’t we supposed to sit in numerical order for at least a month? wasn’t that the unwritten rule?
had the teacher already memorized all our names and faces?
what a competent teacher.
“come here and draw a number. let’s start with number 1.”
one by one, the students from the front rows got up to draw a number.
they were drawing slips, cut from standard a4-size paper, from a box.
i didn’t even wish for the slight chance of ending up as eun-ha’s partner again.
all i hoped for was a seat somewhere close to her.
“next, numbers 11 to 20 come up.”
the students in front of me hurried out, leaving eun-ha and me leaning against the classroom wall.
it would be nice if eun-ha felt a little regretful about us being separated, but i guessed that was probably not the case yet?
she might also want to get to know some of the other girls better.
i shouldn’t be too greedy.
as i was lost in thoughts, eun-ha, who had been in front of me, reached her hand into the box.
she rummaged around for a bit and then pulled out a slip.
i discreetly glanced at the number she’d drawn.
number 17... interesting.
it was the same seat as before.
in that case, please let me have 18.
i prayed to all the gods.
please, grant me number 18.
i quickly snatched a piece of paper after a brief prayer and checked the number.
“lee han-gyeol. number 23.”
“ah! teacher, can i please draw again?”
“life rarely gives you a second chance, you know.”
“are you saying that you want to teach that harsh reality to a developing sprout like us?”
“you’ll be adults by next year, won’t you? alright, moving on~”
with my options diminishing, my only choice was to find whoever drew number 18 and attempt to swap.
i was carefully watching who would pick number 18 when—
“jeong harim. number 18.”
“oh—i get to sit next to eun-ha.”
it was jeong harim who had triumphantly drawn the coveted number 18.
however, there wasn’t a legitimate reason to switch with her.
if i did, rumors that i liked eun-ha would surely spread...
sigh... i have no choice. let’s be grateful that her new partner isn’t a guy.
“so, what’s your number, han-gyeol?”
“i got 23. how about eun-ha?”
“i got 17. we’re pretty far apart. kind of a shame.”
she spoke with an air of nonchalance, so casual that i couldn’t even tease her about it.
am i just deluding myself?
“hi eun-ha~”
“harim, you got 18? awesome.”
“haha, yeah, that’s how it turned out. please take good care of me.”
“mhm.”
what happened to the eun-ha who had just said it was a shame? was she really this welcoming?
“ah, take your time moving. i need to gather my things too.”
“it’s fine. i don’t have much in the drawer, so it won’t take long.”
“take care, han-gyeol.”
“yeah, yes~”
i trudged over to seat number 23, lugging my textbooks.
“oh, don’t worry. a friend is leaving campus early, so i’ll use his student id to grab something to eat.”
sigh... looks like i can’t have any alone time with eun-ha today.
the three of us ended up studying together, and the dynamic somehow made me more self-conscious. i hesitated even to offer eun-ha the orange-flavored candy i had in my pocket.
“hmm... english is still tricky, isn’t it?”
“what is it? hmm... yeah, it’s difficult. i’m not too sure about the grammar myself. han-gyeol, do you get this problem?”
she couldn’t possibly think that i’d understand something that had stumped her. still, i leaned on my experience of drafting countless work emails in english.
eun-ha and jeong harim handed me a long passage.
“hmm... this is a question on syntax, right? harim, you chose option 2; why did you pick that one?”
“well... it looked like an adjective to me, so i just went with it.”
“didn’t you read all the way to 5?”
“i was short on time, so i just answered what i thought was right and moved on.”
not exactly a commendable study strategy...
“alright, let’s leave 2 for now and look at 3, 4, and 5.”
“uh...”
jeong harim seemed to ponder for a moment before her pencil halted at 4.
“wait, so the answer is 4? then why isn’t it 2?”
“option 2 also utilizes inversion but places an adjective in the predicate position.”
“oh...! yeah, you’re right! i hadn’t thought of that because option 1 also had inversion. thanks.”
“no problem.”
after returning the workbook to harim, i refocused on my own work. to be honest, i was still trying to figure out the “correct” way to navigate this new social dynamic.
i couldn’t be overly friendly with harim like i was with eun-ha, but at the same time, i didn’t want eun-ha to perceive me as indifferent.
however, being seen as kind to just anyone would be a headache in its own right.
if i was going to subtly make a move, i needed to make eun-ha feel that she was treated a little differently by me compared to others...
this is hard.
in the first place, i was not exactly a pro when it came to human relationships.
even more so in the current situation where i was longing for a special connection called a romantic relationship.
if i was just unconditionally nice, the other person might feel burdened and pull away.
and if i kept a moderate distance, i failed to express my feelings to the other person.
to become lovers, a balanced blend of patience and courage was necessary.
if only there were a definitive answer, like a test.
i had heard that push-and-pull dynamics were necessary in a relationship, but i didn’t expect it to be this complicated.
“by the way, you guys are always together, huh?”
jeong harim suddenly spat out a pointless question.
“yep! we were study buddies before i got paired with harim, so we’ve gotten quite close.”
“hmm— really? you guys aren’t dating or anything? i have a pretty good sixth sense, you know.”
harim propped up her chin and looked at eun-ha and me in turn.
“haha—! no, not like that. han-gyeol and i are just friends.”
eun-ha waved her hands in the air as if to dispel any misconception.
“is han-gyeol not denying it either?”
i somewhat disliked the cunning in harim’s query.
it seemed obvious that she sensed something between eun-ha and me.
looking back at my actions up to now, they had all been ambiguous.
but i realized i had never properly taken the lead with eun-ha.
all i had done was ambiguously state that “i’ve liked someone for a long time.”
beyond that, i had only shown actions that could be seen as goodwill toward her.
“do i really need to deny it?”
“huh?”
“if eun-ha were my girlfriend, i’d undoubtedly be over the moon.”
it might be a bit forward, but today, just for today, i’ll take the reins.
--- the end of the chapter ---
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