Love for Love's Sake - Chapter 14
Chapter 14
If you didn’t take care of your home, the electricity would be shut off quickly, dust would accumulate, and it would lose its vitality. Humans were no different.
The present 18-year-old Cha Yeowoon, I may have thought too simply.
He had spent months alone beside his only family that was struggling with an illness, then coming back to an empty home alone, with nothing okay, not even one thing he liked.
“Now that I’m not going to run anymore, senior should leave.”
“Cha Yeowoon.”
Cha Yeowoon’s misty eyes didn’t shed a single tear.
The eyes that were gazing at me so clearly appeared red in the dim light. It gave the illusion that it was filled with blood.
“You’re really clumsy too.”
It reminded me of myself when I was 19.
My grandmother was angry at me because she was worried, and there were people who approached me out of concern, but I was tired of it all. Miserable and angry, I thought I was alone. I thought I would always be alone.
I felt as if the whole world hated me. I wanted to feel more hatred toward everyone than they felt toward me. I didn’t want anyone to want me. I didn’t want to become desperate. I didn’t want to be hurt.
I didn’t want to be abandoned.
I really, really hated myself.
I abandoned myself every day, but I had to live with myself every day.
“Get some rest.”
I turned around and put on my sneakers. The sunlight outside the front door poured down.
As my shadow lengthened under my feet, my steps began to feel sticky.
* * *
When I returned with a hefty bag, the front door of the rooftop room was slightly open.
I wondered if something had happened. My heart raced, and I pushed the door open, forgetting the weight on my wrist.
“Cha Yeo…!”
Cha Yeowoon was curled up in the same place as before.
Nothing had changed. I belatedly realized that I might not have properly closed the door when I left.
As I approached him, his slightly trembling shoulders stopped.
“Yeowoon.”
A tear-stained face turned toward me.
The intertwined eyelashes blinked in disbelief. Tears that were still in the corners of his eyes streamed down.
It hadn’t even been 20 minutes since I left, why was his condition like this? I came as quickly as I could. I wanted to scold myself, but his condition seemed so serious that I didn’t dare to say anything.
Imagining him crying in this place made my heart ache.
“…Why did you come back?”
“Didn’t I just go to buy this?”
When I showed the bag hanging on my wrist, Cha Yeowoon’s eyebrows twitched.
“I told you to wait because I’ll buy you porridge.”
“Haa…”
“The gas hasn’t been shut off, has it? I’ll warm it up for you.”
“I’m not eating.”
“Stop being stubborn. Do you want to wash your face? Your eyes are swollen.”
“…What kind of porridge did you buy?”
“Vegetable porridge.”
Cha Yeowoon scrambled to the bathroom while I was unloading the porridge, canned food, ramen, instant rice, and some dried food onto the kitchen.
If electricity was completely shut off, it would mean that he hadn’t paid in three months. Even if the capital was included in the maintenance fee, he wouldn’t have paid for just electricity alone, so gas was likely to be shut off soon.
After making him eat, I’ll have him sit down and look at the bills. Should I light a candle or something? It was going to be dark soon. I became uneasy as I listened to the sound of water.
As I heated up the porridge in a pot and went to get a spoon, I noticed the utensil box next to the sink. Seeing the dust collected on top of it, a sigh escaped my lips.
I guess he hadn’t been eating at home. Then what had he been eating?
“Cha Yeowoon, have you been starving? There’s so much dust on the utensil box.”
Cha Yeowoon, who walked out with water dripping from his face, had a whiter complexion than before. His eyes were red, making him look like a rabbit.
“I’ve been eating outside because of my hospital visits.”
“What about after the funeral?”
“I didn’t have much of an appetite.”
“Isn’t it because you were starving that you couldn’t run? Eat the porridge.”
I quickly set up a small table and arranged the washed spoon and porridge bowl. Cha Yeowoon, who had been staring at the steaming bowl from afar, slowly began to eat the porridge.
“How much was the porridge?”
“Are you going to repay me? Forget it. Just eat. You’re behind on your electricity bill. Did you get the notification by text?”
“Senior only carried around 40 cents.”
“Hey. That’s only for that day, I have more money than you.”
“I don’t think you have much more than me.”
I thought he was exhausted from crying, but I guess he had gained some strength to be rude after a few tastes of the porridge. I wasn’t sure if I should consider that a good sign.
“I’m sorry about earlier.”
“What?”
“I shouldn’t have said anything to senior all of a sudden. It wasn’t something to say.”
“Are you really going to quit track and field?”
“If I quit, I won’t be able to go to college.”
The sun was slowly setting. There wasn’t much light coming into the room.
“I won’t be able to go to school. My scholarship will be cut off.”
I wished I was 29 again. I could only swallow bitter saliva while counting my savings. I didn’t have any money now anyway, so what was the point of counting it?
For me, 19 was a miserable age. It was so unstable, so little I could change with my own hands.
Volume 2? is it another book ou another part of the romance?
Each volume is an arc.