That afternoon.
My phone vibrated.
It was Ben.
Hey, how was class today?
I smiled and texted back.
It was good.
Kind of boring, though. :)
A few minutes later.
His reply came.
Haha, same here.
I was trying so hard to stay awake.
We talked about school.
The weather.
What we were having for dinner.
Even while doing homework.
Whenever something suddenly crossed my mind, I texted him again.
And so, our conversations about nothing in particular continued.
Before I knew it, night had fallen.
Good night, Youjung.
Sleep well. :)
I smiled and texted back.
Good night, Ben.
You too.
Just a short good-night exchange.
And yet, for some reason, it put me in a good mood.
The next morning.
On my way to language school.
Across the crosswalk, I saw a familiar face.
It was Ben.
He was standing among his friends when he spotted me.
Then he smiled brightly and called out in a loud voice.
"Good morning, Youjung!"
I smiled and waved.
"Hi!"
Until yesterday, he had just been someone I passed by.
Today, we were friends, smiling and greeting each other.
My first friend in a foreign country.
I liked how brightly he smiled at me.
As soon as I stepped inside the building, my phone vibrated.
It was nice seeing you this morning. :)
I gave a little laugh and texted back.
Me too. :)
For no particular reason, the whole day felt brighter.
That evening.
My pink Motorola RAZR rang.
I thought it was a text, but it was a call.
I still wasn't used to talking on the phone in English.
I answered carefully.
"Hello?"
A familiar voice came through.
"Hey. It's Ben. Can you talk for a sec?"
It was that guy.
I had only spoken on the phone in English a few times.
And yet, my heart started beating faster for no reason.
"Yeah..."
He asked with a laugh,
"What are you up to Friday night?"
I didn't have any special plans for Friday night.
"Not much, actually."
Even if I had had plans, explaining them in English would have been difficult.
"Oh, good."
"A bunch of us are hanging out downtown."
"You should come with us."
I hesitated for a moment before answering.
"That sounds fun."
"Great. See you Friday."
The call was short.
But there was still a warmth in his voice that made people feel at ease.
After hanging up, I found myself smiling alone.
Yeah.
I'd come all the way to Canada. I should go to a pub at least once.
It would be a shame to spend all of my twenties being too well-behaved.
I contacted my close unnie right away.
"Unnie."
"What?"
"I made plans to meet that tall Taiwanese friend and his group of Japanese friends on Friday. Do you want to come with me?"
My unnie answered as if she'd been waiting for me to ask.
"Sure!"
The truth was, she wanted to meet new friends too.
Even for someone who had come to study abroad after working in Korea,
Vancouver, where she'd come dreaming of a new beginning, was still an unfamiliar city.
Friday evening.
A light drizzle was falling.
I put on a thin black puffer jacket.
I wrapped a black scarf around my neck.
I wore straight-leg jeans and shoes that clicked against the pavement with every step.
When I looked in the mirror, I seemed taller than usual.
It put me in a good mood for no reason.
My unnie had dressed up nicely too.
We smiled at each other.
"Just two beers."
"Exactly two."
"Promise."
When we opened the pub door,
Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" came pouring out.
So this was what pubs were like.
People.
Lights.
Laughter.
The smell of beer.
Everything was overwhelming.
But his friends welcomed us warmly.
"Hey! You made it!"
Ben approached with a smile.
"Hey, Youjung."
"These are my friends."
Hide.
Dai.
And many more whose names I couldn't remember.
I smiled and greeted them.
"Hi, nice to meet you."
My unnie smiled too and said,
"Call me Eun."
"Nice to meet you too."
We talked over beers.
Why we'd come to Canada.
How long we'd been studying.
What we'd done back in Korea.
What we planned to do when we went back.
But the pub was too loud.
We had to lean close and whisper in each other's ears just to hear one another.
"What?"
"Sorry, I didn't catch that."
"Can you say that again?"
We repeated the same things over and over.
OutKast's "Hey Ya!" exploded from the speakers.
It was so much fun.
Even strangers shouted and sang along.
Two beers.
Had three hours passed?
I was starting to feel a little tipsy.
The music in the pub.
The laughter of the people.
Everything was fun.
But before I knew it, it was time to go home.
When I stood up, Ben rose from his seat too.
"I'll walk you home."
"It's late."
We left the pub together.
The moment the door closed behind us,
the world changed.
The loud music.
The people's laughter.
It all disappeared in an instant.
The drizzle had stopped sometime along the way.
A thin veil of night fog settled over the streets of Vancouver.
Red streetlamp light stretched across the wet pavement.
We walked slowly.
And only then.
For the first time.
We were able to share our stories in our ordinary voices.