Page 67 of XOXO

The students start to break into twos and threes to accommodate for the narrow trail. Immediately a boy from another class engages Sori in conversation, while even more girls encircle Jaewoo.

Resentment curdles in my chest. Even if he is here, it’s not like I can walk up to him.

“Jenny.” I drag my gaze away from Jaewoo to where Ian’s hung back to wait for me. Resigned to my fate, I join him. “So,” Ian says, as we start up the trail. “I checked my messages and noticed I never got a text from you.”

That’s an odd way of putting it, as if hehadthought I texted him. How many girls does he give his phone number out to?

“Sorry, school started, and I...”—forgot, really—“wanted to concentrate on my music.”

“Oh, yeah,” he says, “SAA has a showcase at the end of the semester, right? I know a kid who was accepted into MSM immediately following his performance. Like, the rep in the audience came up to him and gave him a verbal acceptance.”

“Seriously? Wow,” I say. “That’s amazing.” My pulse quickens at the thought.

Though I feel a smidgen of worry. I haven’t been concentrating on my music, not really, not to the extent that I had in LA. I’ve been distracted with school, and my friends, and, well, Jaewoo. But I resolve now that once we return to campus, I’ll step up my game, sign up for more practice time, and maybe schedule a video session with Eunbi.

“Ian-ssi?” A girl calls over to him from where she and her friends are looking over a ridge. “What kind of plant is that?”

“I guess I should go do my job,” Ian says, leaving my side to answer the girl.

As we make our way up the mountain the hike becomes a bit more arduous, the path taking us up a sharp incline and over grassy boulders, and once across a bustling stream, silver fish slipping over rocks that sparkle beneath the afternoon sun. Past the stream is a dense forest, the path harder to make out against the leaf-strewn ground, overgrown with moss and the roots of trees.

I’m up front, walking beside Sori, when the path we’d been heading up levels off, and there it is, a small shrine.

It’s tucked against the side of a mountain, an elegant wooden structure, small in stature, painted predominantly green and red, with a single room and a gentle, sloping roof.

For how deep it is in the mountains, the shrine and its surrounding area is well-kept, the clearing swept of debris and all of the features of the building—the wood and paper doors, the little stone decorative figures on the rooftop—are intact. There’s even the subtle smell of incense emanating from withinthe shrine, as if a visiting monk had only just left.

Everyone either rushes off to explore the area, taking selfies with the few stone statues that stand sentinel around the clearing, or collapses onto the ground out of sheer exhaustion from the last leg of the hike.

“I have to use the bathroom,” Sori of the Small Bladder says as she makes her way toward a tiny building at the edges of the clearing. I look around for Jaewoo, but I don’t spot him anywhere. The girls who’d been with him earlier are also looking around, brows furrowed.

Ian stands by the shrine, calling out instructions. “Let’s keep the number of people in the shrine to two to three people at a time, four at the most.” He then starts to turn in my direction.

In a sort of panic, I sprint behind the closest building. Crouching down, I glance around the corner to see Ian approaching. Oh my God, I feel ridiculous. Am I reallyhidingfrom him? Still crouched, I start to back up and bump into someone.

“Hey, watch it.”

I twist around and almost fall over. “Jaewoo!” I hiss. “What are you doing?”

“I think...” he says slowly, “I’m doing exactly what you’re doing.”

From the other side of the shrine, I can hear the girls shouting. “Jaewoo! Jaewoo-oppa! Where are you?”

For a moment we just stare at each other, acknowledging the situation, both of us crouched down behind a mountain shrine while hiding from people who want our attention. I tryto suppress a giggle, but soon find myself holding my hands over my mouth to stifle them. Jaewoo’s no better, his entire body shaking with silent laughter.

“This is just like the photobooth,” I say. “Why do we keep on ending up in these situations?”

“I don’t know,” he says, wiping the tears from his eyes.

I let out a snort and he holds a finger to his mouth. “Shh, Jenny!”

“I can’t help it!”

Jaewoo smiles, clearly amused.

“Jenny!” Ian’s voice is close now, moving around the side of the shrine.

“Jaewoo!” The girls are on the other side.

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