Love for Love's Sake - Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Cha Yeowoon’s back was trembling sharply as he gazed down at the ground with his hands on his knees. It was as if the number he carried was heavy.
“Gyeonghun.”
“Yeah?”
After seeing the world of Cha Yeowoon, which was overflowing with negatives, I turned to Ahn Gyeonghun.
“Do you happen to need a friend?”
I ask subtly, like a snake oil salesman. Ahn Gyeonghun didn’t seem to understand what I meant and only blinked his eyes.
“How about the three of us have dinner together tonight?”
In Ahn Gyeonghun’s thick glasses, my sly smile was reflected.
* * *
“I don’t want to.”
Cha Yeowoon, dressed in gym clothes, shook his head.
“What do you mean you don’t want to? Let’s go eat.”
“I’ll just go home and eat.”
“Hey. You said you wanted to have lunch with me.”
“Senior, that’s for lunch.”
This brat. It had been hours.
I waited for track and field practice to end, only to have my dinner invitation immediately rejected. Cha Yeowoon had insisted on having lunch together and had questioned why I had avoided him. Now, he was behaving as if it was an inconvenience.
“You’re on your way home anyway. We’re going home too. Go to school together, eat together, and go home together. Isn’t that school life?”
“You talk like someone who’s been to school for 10 years.”
“Uhm, Yeowoon…”
Ahn Gyeonghun, who had been silent behind us, spoke up. When Cha Yeowoon and I turned around simultaneously, he stiffened and curled his lips.
“…Mister.”
“Haha.”
I burst into laughter at the honorific Ahn Gyeonghun had used.
“No, what’s with calling Yeowoon mister? It’s not a matchmaking session.”
Cha Yeowoon’s already unsettled expression turned even more sour as he stood beside me. It was becoming funnier.
“Just speak casually if you want. You’re my senior.”
“I-If it’s okay, let’s go eat together…As a thank you for what happened during lunch.”
“Right. Yeowoon did great during lunch.”
“I only brought the teacher.”
“That’s an active role. The real hero always shows up at the end.”
With the momentum, I squeezed Cha Yeowoon between me and Ahn Gyeonghun. Caught between us, he looked like he wanted to do something about it but was carried along nonetheless.
“Okay, let’s go. Mister Yeowoon.”
“Making a big deal out of nothing, senior is really childish.”
“Since we’re having dinner, how about going to karaoke afterward?”
“I don’t want to.”
“But I do.”
Cha Yeowoon turned into ice again. This time, even Ahn Gyeonghun was astonished and froze.
“Gyeonghun do too.”
At my next words, Cha Yeowoon’s face crumpled, and Ahn Gyeonghun’s eyes behind his glasses seemed to bulge out.
I revised my judgment that putting the two of them together would be disastrous. It was cuter than I thought.
Before Cha Yeowoon could explode, the three of us had already crossed the school gate, and now only the real problem remained.
“Guys, what should we eat?”
* * *
I wondered if Cha Yeowoon’s archenemy from a past life was tteokbokki.
“Yeowoon, did you happen to be a tteokbokki in your past life?”
“What?”
“Well, you have this solemn expression that almost looks like your clansman were facing a tragedy.”
“…Senior. If you’re going to tease me in the future, please pay for the meal.”
“Hamburger, tteokbokki, spaghetti. We decided what to eat with rock-paper-scissors, and it became tteokbokki. You should know how to accept the outcome like a man.”
“That’s why we’re here.”
In fact, among the three of us, only Cha Yeowoon had a clear opinion. I simply assumed that the children liked tteokbokki, and while Ahn Gyeonghun did mention a good tonkatsu and spaghetti place in front of the school, he said he was fine going anywhere.
So, when Cha Yeowoon suggested eating hamburgers, I tried to go along with it. However, he then said that if each of us had something we wanted to eat, it should be chosen fairly. Eighteen-year-old Cha Yeowoon was a man who lacked not only social skills but also flexibility.
I won and declared we would eat hamburgers. However, Cha Yeowoon truly was a man with no flexibility.
The three of us were sitting in a tteokbokki restaurant according to Cha Yeowoon’s wish that we should stick to the original bet. Cha Yeowoon had appeared pale throughout even after settling down.
“Are you not good with spicy food?”
Ahn Gyeonghun asked cautiously. Cha Yeowoon didn’t readily answer; instead, he gulped down a glass of water. Seemed like he couldn’t handle it.
“Just order a mild flavor. Have some sundae, sundae.”
“I can eat it.”
“Why are you being stubborn? It’s okay if you can’t handle spicy food. They have mild flavor here. There’s also fried food and sundae.”
Cha Yeowoon didn’t relax even after our orders were placed. Ahn Gyeonghun glanced at him and then at me. Despite my attempts to reassure him, he was sweating profusely. I felt apologetic for bringing him here.
Anyway, I didn’t soothe Ahn Gyeonghun any further. What bothered me was something else other than the tteokbokki.
The debuff. It felt as if it would activate whenever we were together, but was the timing completely random? What about reversal?
[ Debuff triggered due to negative favorability. ]
Wow. No honor at all.
The message window appeared as soon as I thought about it. That was why people shouldn’t have unlucky thoughts.
wait so he hate himself?
Yes.