📞Six Calls in February

Finally, he came back home on February 6th. I felt relieved… but we couldn’t call right away. Our first call after that was on February 9th.

In February, we talked six times — on the 9th, 11th, 13th, 19th, 22nd, and 24th. It doesn’t sound like a lot. But to me, it was already better than January, when we only talked four times.

February 13th was the first time he called me not at dawn. I was so used to his calls in the early morning that when my phone rang at night, I was genuinely surprised. I even asked him, “How come you’re calling at this time?”
He laughed softly and said that the day was special. At first I thought it was because the next day was Valentine’s Day. But the funny thing is… he had actually forgotten that Valentine’s Day was tomorrow. Somehow, that made the moment feel even more adorable.

Then on February 19th, he called me during the day for the very first time—while I was at work. It was also the first day of Ramadan. We only talked for about 30 minutes, but somehow that short conversation was enough to lift my mood and give me the energy to go through the day of fasting. Just hearing his voice made everything feel lighter.

On February 22nd, he made the effort to call me again. He even had to leave the house and told his father that he was going to the gym. But instead, he went to a park so we could talk. We ended up talking for an hour and a half.
I felt a little sorry because he was outside in the cold in the middle of the night. But at the same time, I was really happy that we could talk again for that long.

And then February 24th, we talked again for two hours in the morning. That day Jaeho seemed so cheerful and full of energy. Several times he told me that he liked me. I was honestly a little confused because he felt so different from his usual self.
But I was truly, truly happy.

I noticed something strange. The more we talked, the more I missed him. The more I heard his voice, the more I wanted to hear it again. Talking to him made me happy, but it also made me miss him even more afterward. Our calls filled my heart, but the silence after them felt lonelier than before.

I kept reminding myself that we weren’t anything official. We weren’t really friends, but we weren’t dating either. We just liked each other and felt comfortable with each other. That didn’t mean he owed me a call every day.

Still… I couldn’t help feeling sad when we couldn’t talk. I kept telling myself not to expect too much. Not to let my hopes grow too big. But feelings don’t always listen to logic.

Sometimes I tried to act normal. I told myself, It’s okay if we don’t talk today. I tried to focus on my work, on my daily life, on everything else. But somehow, a small part of my mind was always wondering what he was doing.

I didn’t want to ask too much. I was afraid of becoming someone who needed too much attention.

But sometimes… I couldn’t hold the feeling back.

Sometimes I missed him so much that I ended up telling him anyway.

I would simply say, “I miss you.”

Maybe I said it more often than I should have. But it was the most honest thing I could say at that moment.

Because pretending not to miss him felt even harder.

Sometimes he responded warmly. Sometimes he just replied simply. But even a small reply from him was enough to calm my heart a little.

It was strange how someone could slowly become part of your thoughts like that.

Even when nothing special was happening, even when days passed without a call, he was still there somewhere in my mind.

And I think that was the moment I realized something else too.

My feelings for him were quietly growing…