A week passed.
During that time, Suho settled into a new routine: in the morning, his father picked him up, and they drove to the company together. Acting as if he had no idea why he kept showing up at the same time as the director, Suho obediently worked at a computer as an assistant junior manager. His internship wasn't exactly demanding.
Then Suho would have lunch at the cafeteria on the first floor and call a taxi to the rehabilitation center. He'd train under the doctors' supervision for about an hour, then spend another hour on treatments, and finally take a taxi home. He'd order delivery, have dinner, try to make himself study, take a shower, and go to bed.
And any free second during the day, he'd be glued to his phone, scrolling through Yoon Jia's social media.
Her image was firmly lodged in his head, popping up before his eyes every time Suho's mind wandered.
Jia ran an Instagram account, posting photos from photoshoots, brand collaborations, and other fashion-related things. Suho didn't know much about brands, but over the week, he'd liked every single post without worrying about how it might look. It's not like Jia would notice one new fan among a million others.
The real discovery was a collection of saved live streams Jia had done on Instagram over the past year and a half. That day, Suho couldn't wait for evening to come so he could watch them.
Much to his disappointment, out of six recordings, only two were longer than thirty seconds. The rest were ridiculously short videos where Jia, sitting in the backseat of a car, said hi, waved, and ended the stream.
And every single time, she looked stunning. Later, Suho matched up the dates and realized that she went live before fashion shows.
In one of the longer videos, she was sharing her thoughts about a YSL event. In another, she was talking about a work trip to America for a magazine photoshoot.
Suho could understand why Jia didn't want to share her life outside of work with her followers. He fully supported that decision, remembering the unhinged comments he'd seen.
But that didn't change the fact that Suho missed her. After a week, their conversation that night felt like a pleasant dream.
"You're not nearly as scary as people said."
He kept replaying that line in his head. Why did it stick with him so much?
Suho was drying his hair after a shower, looking at his reflection in the mirror. He'd been told more than once that he gave off the wrong first impression. Even though a lot of people at university already knew who he was, no one ever came up to introduce themselves.
People said he looked unfriendly at first glance. Not approachable. His intimidating appearance scared people off. And so on.
In Suho's own opinion, he looked perfectly normal.
Okay, maybe during basketball games he didn't always control his behavior, but that was a competition! That's how he showed his passion on the court. So what if he'd gotten in a few guys' faces? They deserved it!
"You're not nearly as scary as people said."
God, that sounded so good. Suho buried his face in the towel, feeling a warm, pleasant sensation spread through his chest.
The corners of his mouth curled up on their own. He chuckled, remembering the funny expression on Jia's face when she'd said it.
Too bad she'd run off right after. Was she embarrassed the next morning? Or maybe she hadn't thought about him at all…
"At least she didn't find me off-putting," Suho thought, nodding to himself.
He hung the towel on the hook, put on his robe, and was about to crash into bed when a notification popped up. Suho walked into his bedroom and picked up his phone from the nightstand. The first thing he noticed was the Instagram icon.
"User yoonjia started a live broadcast."
"User choi_suho joined the broadcast."
Jia was sitting in front of the camera in a simple gray NBA shirt. Behind her was a heavily curtained window, and soft, dim light glowed from somewhere on the right.
"… Hiiii…" She waved her hand and smiled.
Suho's breath caught at the thought that he was seeing Jia in real time.
Choi just stood there next to the bed, staring at his phone screen. Jia looked straight into the camera, and Suho felt goosebumps run down his arms.
She ran her hand through her hair, sweeping strands away from her face, then leaned back slightly, bit her lip, and made a motion — the kind you make when you're shooting a basketball. After that, she waved one more time and ended the stream.
"What the hell was that?!"
Suho's breathing quickened, and he slowly scanned the room with a confused look. His brain refused to analyze what he'd just seen. What was that, if not a sign? A coincidence? That kind of coincidence? No way. Suho would never believe that. Did Jia do that… for him?
Had he actually caught her attention with all those likes? But could you really notice one person among so many followers? Choi didn't really understand the finer points of social media, but that scenario seemed unlikely.
But even if he had nothing to do with it, and Jia was just suddenly interested in basketball… Even if it wasn't interest in the full sense, just a fleeting impulse…
Suho was happy.