Page 41 of XOXO

“How can you stop at three?” Angela exclaims. “I could eat a whole mountain of tteok-bokki.” She’s foregone the toothpicks in favor of chopsticks for easier access.

I rest my chin on my hand and watch the entirety of XOXO’s performance, noticing details I hadn’t picked out the first time around. Like how even the choreography tells a story. As the camera pans closer to the performers, Youngmin flashes the heart sign to the camera.

“That’s not usually part of the routine,” Angela says. “How cute!”

A jingle above the door signals the entrance of anothercustomer. I’m surprised to see though that it’s Sori who steps through the door. Without so much as a glance in our direction, she walks over to the counter, places her order, and takes a seat at a table a little way down from us.

Angela leans across the table and whispers, “Should we invite her to join us?”

Gi Taek shakes his head. “She’d never say yes.”

The restaurant owner calls out our order and Angela dashes from the table, coming back with a plate of kimchi fried rice. We dig in with our spoons.

“What are your plans for the weekend?” Gi Taek asks us. He’s far surpassed three tteok-bokki by now.

“I’m going to visit my halmeoni on Sunday morning,” I say.

“Where does your halmeoni live?” Gi Taek asks.

“She lives near Gyeongbokgung Palace, but I’m actually visiting her at the health clinic where she stays on the weekends. It’s also around there, though a few stops away on line three.”

“That’s not far from Ikseon-dong,” Gi Taek says. “My sister lives in the neighborhood. There are a lot of cool cafés nearby. We should hang out.”

“I’m in!” Angela says.

“I’d love that,” I say.

We make plans to meet on Sunday in the late afternoon after I visit my grandma.

The bells above the door chime again. This time Jina enters, accompanied by a few of her friends.

She glances over at our table, then says something to the boy behind her, who laughs.

“She’s in your class, isn’t she?” Gi Taek asks. “Kim Jina?”

“She is. She’s also in our PE class,” I say, nodding at Angela. “Do you know her?”

“I went to middle school with her. She doesn’t exactly have a great reputation, like there were rumors of school bullying.”

Angela and I exchange a look. Why am I not surprised?

After ordering at the counter, her group completely ignores our table; they have a more vulnerable target in mind.

They take seats at the table directly next to Sori’s, talking loudly to one another. Their voices carry throughout the small restaurant:

“She’s sitting alone.”

“Doesn’t she have any friends?”

“What a loser.”

Sori, who’d ordered a hot noodle dish, bends slightly forward, her hair falling over her face.

The restaurant owner calls out that the last food items we ordered are ready. Gi Taek, Angela, and I all stand at once. There are three plates of food on trays and we each take one.

We form a line, with me in the front, and head through the restaurant, bypassing our table, where we’d already cleaned up the food on our dishes.

We set our trays down at Sori’s table. I sit opposite her, while Gi Taek and Angela sit beside us.

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