Childhood Friends: Turning the Tables - Chapter 4.1
Nothing had changed since that day.
As the saying goes, habits formed at three last until eighty. Tae-seung still waited for Eun-sae in front of her house every morning. Likewise, Eun-sae never failed to stand outside Tae-seung’s classroom after school. It was a habit formed since kindergarten, and their days repeated as if nothing had ever happened.
Stories where friends suddenly fall out or act like strangers overnight only happen in dramas. Relationships built over a long time do not crumble easily without strong resolve.
Change only came after they entered middle school.
Since he grew faster than the other boys, Yoon Tae-seung, now much taller, looked more like a proper teenager even in the same uniform.
“Is it because you’ve been doing taekwondo for so long?”
One morning, Eun-sae murmured to herself as she quietly looked at Tae-seung walking beside her, finding him oddly unfamiliar in his school uniform.
Tae-seung glanced at her and smirked with one corner of his mouth.
“What? Do I look cool?”
“Ugh. Cool, my foot. I’ll have to wash my ears as soon as we get to school.”
Eun-sae frowned as if she had heard something she shouldn’t have. As she rubbed her ears with her hand in haste, Tae-seung gestured toward her bag.
“Did you bring your gym clothes?”
“Of course. I put them in my bag last night.”
“You didn’t bring the wrong bag again?”
“Stop worrying. And stop nagging.”
He kept bringing it up because she had once rushed to his class before P.E. to borrow his uniform several times.
Though the boys’ gym uniform was too big for her, Tae-seung always had two sets—one kept in his locker—so she was never turned away when she came to borrow one.
Some students didn’t look at them kindly.
‘Isn’t it funny how she keeps borrowing his gym clothes but insists they’re not dating?’
‘Go Eun-sae enjoys it too. What friends? She’s just showing off that they’re special.’
‘I wonder what’ll happen if Yoon Tae-seung gets a girlfriend. She’ll probably explode with jealousy.”
Eun-sae happened to overhear those mean comments in the bathroom, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. For the first time, she realized that people might actually see them that way.
She admitted she had grown careless, assuming Tae-seung would always have gym clothes ready so she didn’t have to pack hers. But she swore it was never out of pride or to show off.
After that, she made sure to pack her gym clothes before her textbooks. Now that she was a middle schooler, she had to avoid doing anything that might cause misunderstanding.
Every morning when she stepped out the door, Tae-seung, who was waiting in front, would look her up and down. He’d check if she forgot her name tag or tie, or tell her to bring a coat because it was cold. It was practically his first-round outfit inspection. Becoming middle schoolers had added a new routine.
Meanwhile, the moms who loved matching items never stopped shopping for couple accessories.
Eun-sae had finally saved enough allowance to buy a bag that suited her taste, freeing herself at last from the matching one with Tae-seung.
‘Huh…? Those sneakers…’
On the day she wore the sneakers she had begged her mother for days to buy, Tae-seung showed up wearing the exact same pair.
‘Your mom bought them for me too. Tell her thanks.’
‘Oh my god… Mom!’
But she couldn’t really blame her mother. Tae-seung’s mother often bought one for Eun-sae whenever she shopped for her son’s things. Sometimes, the gifts matched items Eun-sae had secretly added to her wish list—it felt like winning the lottery.
Because of that, rumors like “They’re always together, even wearing matching sneakers” never seemed to die down.
***
Lunch break. After eating in the cafeteria, Eun-sae was walking back to class with her friends when she felt someone’s gaze. She glanced around. A group of four or five girls nearby was sneaking glances at her.
“Ah, wait, wait. I’m not mentally prepared yet…”
“What do you need to prepare for? It’s not like you’re confessing. I’ll go with you.”
“Think of what you’ll say beforehand.”
At the center of the group, a girl bit her lower lip and looked uneasy. Her friends pushed her forward, nudging her toward Eun-sae.
Startled, Eun-sae blinked in confusion, and her own friends, who had stopped with her, spoke up.
“Who’s that? You know her?”
“No. Never seen her before.”
“Huh? She’s from Class 7. Ha-kyung’s friend.”
“Who’s Ha-kyung?”
“My friend.”
Eun-sae didn’t know Ha-kyung or those girls. They must have come from another elementary school.
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