Page 67 of Wish Upon a K-Star

T he next morning, Hongjoo takes me to my apartment to pack a bag for my trip. My mom told me to just let my manager do it, but I use the excuse that I want to pick out my own clothes. The reality is that I don’t care about what I wear in LA. I wanted to come home to see Minseok. I need to see him in person before I go.

I tell myself that he probably got whisked away from the hospital by his own team like I did. That they didn’t give him a chance to come see me. But a part of me is worried that he doesn’t want to see me. He got hurt because of me. Would he be mad at me for that?

I knock on the apartment door, picking anxiously at my cuticles while I wait for someone to answer.

It’s not Minseok but Jongdae who opens the door.

“Oh sorry,” I say quickly. “Can I come in?”

Jongdae nods and opens the door to let me inside.

I look around the apartment. It’s as messy as it was the last time I was here. “Where are the others?”

“Around somewhere,” Jongdae says. “Sit. You want something to drink?”

I do sit, but I reply, “I’m fine. I have to meet my mom soon.”

“How are you feeling?” he asks, pointing to my sling.

“Crappy. You?” I point to his brace.

He smiles. “Same.”

“Um, so, where’s Minseok?” I finally force myself to ask.

Jongdae nods like he was expecting this. “He’s not here. He’s at the hospital.”

“Still?” I blurt out, worried that maybe his injury is worse than I was told.

“Not still, again. He reached for something without thinking and popped one of his stitches. Hanbin-hyeong took him to get it checked out.”

“Oh, okay.” I sigh, but I can’t help biting my lip in worry. Is he not taking care of himself? “I was just hoping to talk to him before I left.”

“You’re going to LA today?” Jongdae says it with the lift of a question, but it’s clear he knows the answer already.

“Yeah, but I’ll be back.” I don’t know why I feel a need to explain it. Like I don’t want him to think I’m just leaving a mess here for other people to clean up. But the messiest thing, it seems, is my relationship with Minseok.

“I’ll tell Minseok you came to say goodbye,” Jongdae says.

“Thanks.” I stand to go, feeling dissatisfied with the unresolved status of things.

“Don’t be too mad at him, Hyeri-yah,” Jongdae says behind me. “Minseok acts like nothing bothers him. But he takes a lot of things to heart. He just buries it away to make things easier for everyone else. It’s built up over the years, I think. And none of us realized how bad it was until now. I’m probably one of the biggest culprits.”

“Have you talked to him?” I ask, even though it’s none of my business. Not anymore.

“I will,” he says with a heavy sigh. “I didn’t want to burden him right after the attack. And before.” He shakes his head, rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck. A gesture Minseok does too. I wonder who adopted it from whom. “Listen, if I’m the reason you and Minseok broke up, then I was wrong. I said some stupid crap because I knew it would mess with him, and I was pissed at the time.”

He must be talking about whatever fight caused the bruise on Minseok’s chin. But I shake my head. “It wasn’t because of you. I don’t think we’re on the same page about a lot of things. Maybe we’ll never be.”

Jongdae nods. “Minseok doesn’t really talk to me about stuff these days. But I can tell you that sometimes you need to really push to get him to admit what’s bothering him. He’s really good at bottling stuff up.”

“Maybe,” I say. “It would be good if we can be friends again, eventually.”

“So, you’re really doing it?” Jongdae asks. “You’re really relocating to LA?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I shrug, forgetting my injured shoulder. It throbs, but I breathe past the pain. For some reason it feels dulled right now, like I’m experiencing everything through a filter. “Tell Minseok I’ll call him when I’m back, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jongdae says, a small frown on his face. “Have a good trip, Hyeri.”