Love for Love's Sake - Chapter 3
Chapter 3
I heard the cheerful tune again.
[ Favorability: -20 ]
Huh?
Not plus 20 but negative 20? I was startled and double-checked the numbers, but the bright red negative was still the same.
“Who are you?”
Cha Yeowoon asked coldly.
It was a genuinely frosty tone. Those who looked like this boy might have had a voice like melting cotton candy, but even his natural voice couldn’t hide his raised vigilance. No, it actually sounded colder.
Didn’t I just save him? Even if I did interrupt abruptly?
“Oh? I’m your senior from school…”
“How do you know me? Why are you here? And…”
The end of the sentence wavered slightly. Contrary to Cha Yeowoon’s aggressive tone, he was trembling. I was bewildered. Should I pretend not to know? Should I try to comfort him?
“Please let go of my hand.”
Cha Yeowoon said as he pulled his arm. I only now realized that our hands were still tightly clasped together.
I let go of it quickly, but my fingers hurt from how tightly I had held. Any longer and there might have been bruises.
“Sorry.”
Although I apologized hastily, Cha Yeowoon only fidgeted with his reddened hand. There was no sign that his vigilance was easing up.
Actually. I knew him, but to him I was a stranger.
And to anyone, it would have been very unpleasant to be caught in a vulnerable moment by someone you had never met before.
What should I say in this situation? That I had somehow felt like he was going to jump today, so I came here? Or that I had fallen into this world with the mission to make him happy?
The favorability might drop to around negative 100 with a statement like that. What should I do?
“Your grandmother had asked me.”
I barely managed to come up with a plausible answer after scratching my head.
“My grandmother?”
Cha Yeowoon asked skeptically. Of course. I had never met his grandmother.
“Your grandmother and I know each other, and she had asked me to look after you.”
“My grandmother never said anything like that.”
Of course not. I had made up the story.
“She’s from Gyeongsang province and likes to eat Gaengsigi.”
But I knew Cha Yeowoon’s grandmother really well.
“She says Gaengsigi is eaten on rainy days, but you donβt like it that much. She has a habit of not liking Seoul food, and because she did menial work for a wealthy household that had a picky eater when she was young she became good at cooking and scolding.”
Lies flowed effortlessly. Of course, the content of my story wasn’t a lie. It was the same as what Cha Yeowoon had said about his grandmother.
“We spoke frequently when I would bump into her at the market. Noting I was the same age as her grandson, she would often talk about you.”
Cha Yeowoon’s expression slowly softened.
After falling in love with the heroine, he would often talk about his grandmother. He would repeat stories about her as if there were only fond memories.
I remembered thinking it was somewhat pitiful. Even more so because I was similar to him.
“Why didn’t you come to the funeral service?”
An unexpected counterattack. I thought Cha Yeowoon was trying to find out if I was lying, but instead, he gave a resentful expression.
It was a look I knew too well. An expression that showed what he was thinking.
Because in an empty funeral hall, I once cursed every human being who didn’t come to my grandmother’s funeral. I didn’t need any help financially or the like. I just hoped that anyone who remembered my grandmother would come, but no one did.
I felt like crap.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it.”
I apologized, not wanting to tell more lies. Cha Yeowoon frowned as if suppressing something, then averted his gaze.
Again silence fell between us.
His eyes, looking down at the floor, were red. It certainly wasn’t just because of the sunset.
What should I do to comfort him? I should have taken the chance to sit down and talk to an 18-year-old over the past few years.
“…Do you want to go get some ice cream?”
Cha Yeowoon looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. I smacked my lips like a returning summer student who struggled with flirting.
My first meeting with my favorite was slightly ruined.
* * *
These days, ice cream prices were expensive. When I was in high school, it seemed like they were 40 cents each, but now they cost over 80 cents.
“I’ll just buy your share.”
Cha Yeowoon stared at the two coins I held out. It was quite embarrassing.
“I’ll buy my own.”
“No. I’ll buy it.”
“Then let’s just buy for each other.”
“No. How can I let an 18-year-old treat me to ice cream?”
Cha Yeowoon, who seemed speechless, quietly sighed and then dragged me to an ice cream discount store near his home.
Fifty percent off was displayed prominently on the store’s wall. After a 10-minute walk to the store, we finally each had an ice cream in hand.
“You like red bean ice cream?”
“…”
“You have an unbecoming taste of an old person.”
Cha Yeowoon, silently eating his ice cream, sighed again as if for me to hear it.
“Why did you suddenly want to eat ice cream?”
“It’s not that I wanted to eat it.”
“Then why did you suddenly suggest we come here?”
“Don’t children like ice cream?”
When I spoke without thinking, Cha Yeowoon narrowed his eyes. Clearly written in his two pretty eyes was the thought there might be something wrong with me.
“How old is senior?”
“Twen…I’m 19.”
“I’m 18.”
“That’s right. You’re a child.”
“Senior is only a year older than me.”
I didn’t know why it felt like an insult when he called me senior. Maybe it was because I could feel the spirit of rebellion in every word.
“Anyway, I’m older than you.”
“You’re not so much older as to treat me like a child.”
I wasn’t? Wasn’t I ten years older than him? Couldn’t I almost be his uncle?
“Is senior in the sports club?”
“No.”
“That’s surprising. I often see that kind of ego there.”
“Yeowoon.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t look like it, but you’re rude.”
“I hear that a lot.”
Cha Yeowoon’s face, which spoke without care, looked like an angel. Sharp and proportionate features, spotless skin, and ears that were even round and pretty. But the substance was slightly crooked.
As we talked, I began to realize that my favorite was more rude than I thought.
He would act like a giant puppy around the heroine. However, it seemed like the tail-wagging was reserved for her.
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