중학교 영어 2 (동아출판 윤정미) 연계 글

For Dohyun, Thursday was usually a day when nothing special happened. His badminton club needed one more player for the city tournament, but nobody wanted to join. That Thursday, however, a new student named Ara transferred to his school. At lunch, she stopped at his table with her tray and asked, "Is this seat taken?" Dohyun was busy telling his friends a funny story. "Yes, sorry," he said without looking up. Ara ate alone by the window, and Dohyun felt bad all afternoon.

That night, he lay awake and kept remembering the look on Ara's face. "I wish I could live today again," he whispered into his pillow.

The next morning, his alarm rang, and he noticed something strange. His phone showed the same date as the day before. At breakfast, his mother made the same joke about the rain. In class, the teacher introduced Ara again with the same words. Everything felt familiar, like a movie that he had already seen.

At lunch, Ara stopped at his table and asked the same question. This time, Dohyun took his bag off the chair and looked up. "No, it's free," he said with a smile. At first, Ara ate quietly and said very little. Then one of his friends asked her, "Have you ever played badminton?" "Yes, and I have played in two tournaments before," Ara answered. Dohyun was so surprised that he almost dropped his spoon. The next day, Ara joined his club, and the team entered the tournament.

Dohyun has never found out why that Thursday came back. However, that day taught him something important: no choice is too small to matter. One free seat gave Ara a new friend and gave his club its fourth player. Now Dohyun does not wait for a second chance. He tries to make the kind choice the first time.