He moved to walk around the car, when the passenger door swung open and Miyoung stepped out.
“Miyoung-ssi!” Changwan exclaimed. Then his eyes slid toward Jihoon and he wiped the smile from his face. “When did you get back?” he asked in a more moderate tone.
“Not too long ago,” Miyoung said. “It’s good to see you, Changwan-ah.”
Jihoon didn’t have time to stick around for small talk. But before he could take a step, Miyoung moved into his path.
“Jihoon—” she began.
“Let me pass.”
“No,” she said. “I have something to talk to you about.”
“I think I’ll just go over there,” Changwan mumbled, moving toward the car. Neither Jihoon nor Miyoung acknowledged him.
Jihoon tried to walk around her but the signal changed and he watched as the bus pulled up to the stop across the street.
Frustrated, but not wanting to talk to Miyoung, he took his anger out on the driver. Junu leaned against the hood now, explaining the features of his car to an enamored Changwan. If he were a cartoon, Changwan would have hearts in his eyes and Jihoon didn’t know if it would be for the car or Junu. His friend always got a large dose of hero worship when he saw someone he thought was cool.
“You shouldn’t be speeding so close to a school. It’s dangerous,” Jihoon said to the dokkaebi.
“Are you with the police?” Junu drawled.
Jihoon curled his lip in disgust, but then again he shouldn’t be surprised that a dokkaebi didn’t care about who he hurt.
“Why don’t we give you guys a ride?” Miyoung said, obviously noting the longing in Changwan’s eyes as he stared at Junu’s car.
“Changwan, isn’t that your father’s driver?” Jihoon said, pointing at a sedate (boring) black sedan parked at the curb. A man clad in a black suit stood beside it, watching them.
“Yeah.” Changwan pouted, glancing back at the sports car, then let out a resigned sigh. “Rain check?”
“Sure, Changwan-ah,” Miyoung said with a smile. He started to smile back but slid cautious eyes to Jihoon, then set his face into a somber expression.
“See ya,” Changwan said, obviously trying to make the words clipped but just sounding nervous before he jogged over to his waiting driver.
“Jihoon?” Miyoung asked, and he realized she was waiting for him to respond to her offer of a ride.
“I’m fine. I’ll take the bus.” He moved to the curb to wait for the crosswalk signal to change.
“Can we talk first?” Miyoung asked.
He didn’t reply, and when she didn’t continue, he realized she was waiting for his permission to speak. “What?”
“I came back for a reason.”
“I don’t care unless you came back to save my halmeoni.”
“Well, you’re in luck.”
Jihoon noted the frustration in Miyoung’s voice before he absorbed her words. “Wait, what?”
Miyoung’s face was an expressionless mask, giving up nothing. But he noticed sweat beading along her brow. He started to ask her if she was okay. Worry bloomed like bright flowers in his chest before he stomped them down. She wasn’t any of his concern anymore.
“Okay, continue,” he bit out.
“I came back to help, but I can’t do that without your cooperation. Your halmeoni has very little gi.”
“How do you know that?” Jihoon narrowed his eyes.
Miyoung pursed her lips, and he knew that answer. She’d been to see his halmeoni without his permission.
But he didn’t want his anger to get in the way of things. So he held back from yelling at her. “So what does that mean? Her having very little gi?”
“It means that she doesn’t have enough energy to wake up again.”
Jihoon didn’t like the sound of that. Did this mean his halmeoni would never wake up?
“She could wake up again,” Miyoung said, as if reading his thoughts. “In theory.”
“And what does this theory require?”
“If we could figure out a way to get her gi, then it could jump-start her body and she could wake up again.”
“Good, where do we get the gi?”
“I’m still working through that.”
“Take it from me,” Jihoon said. “The gi.”
“No,” Miyoung said so vehemently that Jihoon stepped back.
“Why not?” Jihoon asked.
“It can’t come from you. You’re a boy.”
Jihoon frowned, but he remembered something from his halmeoni’s books about the yin energy of women and the yang energy of men. It could be true, since so many other things were.
“So you’ll let me help?” Miyoung asked.
Jihoon wanted to say yes. He wanted to grab her in a hug and thank her for returning. But something held him back. He remembered Somin chastising him for having too much pride, but