Love for Love’s Sake - Chapter 36

Chapter 36

“Are we going?”

It seemed Cha Yeowoon had noticed my lack of focus, so he asked again.

“Didn’t you say you were working at the church on weekends?”

“I can adjust the time.”

[ “I want to touch.” ]

“What?”

Two voices overlapped. I asked again, thinking I might have misheard.

“I meant working this weekend. I can adjust the time. I don’t have much to do at the church anyway.”

Cha Yeowoon, seemingly perplexed, repeated.

[ “I want to be closer.” ]

It was similar to before. It sounded so clear that it couldn’t be an illusion.

“Does senior have work this weekend?”

“No, not really.”

Stay calm. The subject wasn’t mentioned. Maybe it was someone else. Perhaps he had started to like someone else.

[ “Senior” ]

The subject pierced my ears.

[ “I want to kiss you.” ]

A much more explicit and clear words capped off the finale. It wasn’t just a desire to embrace a ‘good senior.’

Heat crawled up from my chest. My neck and face grew warm.

Cha Yeowoon, were you crazy?

I desperately suppressed the urge to shout. Was this really happening?

“Are you sick? Your face suddenly turned red.”

Cha Yeowoon approached me. A refreshing scent wafted. Although he hadn’t touched me, my shoulders tensed and I felt my heart beating faster.

“I’m fine.”

“Senior.”

Contrary to my words, my face had heated up as if it was about to burst. Cha Yeoun reached out to my cheek.

“Touch…”

Unconsciously, I grabbed his wrist. Just before I was about to push him away, I regained my senses and stopped.

Cha Yeowoon was surprised.

I looked at his hand that had approached me. Long, elegant fingers.

He wanted to touch me. The words repeated in my mind.

“Senior?”

When I turned my gaze slightly, I caught sight of his lips this time. Straight teeth, a beckoning tongue, and slightly parted, moist lips.

He said he wanted to kiss. Me.

Cha Yeowoon’s abrupt pretty hand was kneading my thoughts.

No, why?

Why did he want to kiss me? Did he have unfulfilled desires? Contrary to how he acted, was he just a teenager with a mind boiling like this?

“What’s the matter?”

The repeated question made me tremble. I noticed Cha Yeowoon looking at me.

“What did I do wrong?”

Seeing Cha Yeowoon’s anxiety, my confusion dissipated. The question that had swelled up like a bubble burst. I quickly released his hand.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking about it for a moment. How about in the morning? To Jebudo.”

“If you don’t want to go…”

“No. Let’s go.”

“Really?”

I regretted the cautious reaction, so I nodded enthusiastically. At this point, Jebudo wasn’t much of a problem. What I had just heard was more concerning.

Cha Yeowoon walked away, glancing back at me, as soon as the bell rang. After somehow managing to act like nothing was wrong, I sat down in the classroom and tried to calm my heart.

I should keep calm and think. There were many possibilities.

First, it was all a hallucination. Maybe it was an auditory hallucination.

Second, Cha Yeowoon was suffering from the urges of a lively 18-year-old.

Third, he really wanted to kiss me.

In this case, unless he had a misguided desire to kiss every senior he became close to, a general guess was possible.

I recalled when he was nervously biting his lips. His lower lip, pressed against his upper teeth, looked pleasingly plump.

Cha Yeowoon, did he like me?

I rested my forehead on the desk. The desk was hard, and my thoughts were complicated. The question I couldn’t ask became stuck in my throat.

* * *

“I want to kiss senior.”

Cha Yeowoon said.

What? That, now?

There was no time for me to be surprised. Cha Yeowoon was approaching me with an eager facial expression.

Hey, we shouldn’t do this. Whether he had heard my fierce rejection or not, he was inching closer. Closer and closer. Closer and closer…

[ !Sub-Mission ]

[ Sub-Mission: Kiss Cha Yeowoon. ]

What was the system saying now?

It was as if it was adding fuel to the fire.

The notification window that suddenly appeared seemed almost like a thug’s coercion. How could it even make me do this? A kiss.

While my focus was on the message window, Cha Yeowoon had already shoved his face in front of my eyes. Amidst the situation, he was handsome and incredibly alluring.

“You can do it with men, too.”

Hey, what I could do with a man was different from what I could do with you!

“Just do it once.”

Just once. What did Cha Yeowoon mean once? It wasn’t like there were any benefits to experiencing it, so what would doing it once change?

He pressed me against the wall. There was nowhere to escape. His flickering breath had already reached my mouth, and his face, which was close, was lively and flushed.

His thick and dense eyelashes framed his beautiful, downturned eyes.

Despite feeling no strength from his hand on my chest and knowing I had to push him away, I couldn’t.

His lips were hot and soft. It gave me goosebumps.

A moist tongue slipped between my lips. This crazy bastard. No tongue! Where did he learn this?

Our hot saliva mixed. I could feel his fingers grabbing the back of my neck. His tongue, more and more.

“No! This crazy…”

The sound of saliva and panting were ringing in my ears. My vision was blurry, so I blinked forcefully.

Overlooking me was the familiar stained ceiling. It was my room, and there was no Cha Yeowoon anywhere.

“It was a dream.”

What kind of dream could be so vivid? Unable to control my fluttering chest, I traced my lips with my fingers.

The touch of the kiss still lingered on my lips. As I pictured the feeling of our tongues entwining, my toes curled under the blanket.

I cupped my face, suppressing the scream that was about to burst out, and moaned. Blood in my entire body seemed to have rushed to my neck.

* * *

I was tired. Despite having slept, I didn’t feel like I had slept at all. It was all because of that damn dream.

“Why do you look so sexy?”

Today again, my fatigue doubled because of Cheon Sangwon, who immediately sat down in front of me after stamping the attendance in my class.

“Sexy? Stop with the nonsense.”

“You’re emaciated. You seem troubled.”

This child was quick to notice. Having hit the nail on the head, I wanted to change the subject.

“How’s your track and field practice going? If I was you, I would be ashamed to show up.”

“Because I was embarrassed by Cha Yeowoon? So what? I said I would join the track and field team and step on him, but I didn’t say I would step on him that day.”

“What are you talking about? The loser talks a lot.”

“Whether it’s tomorrow or the day after, I just need to step on Cha Yeowoon.”

“You’re quite…optimistic, eh?”

Should I call it persistence? Should I call it shamelessness? Should I say I was jealous that he seemed to live a life without ever being discouraged?

I envied him for never losing hope.

[Cha Yeowoon] : Let’s have lunch together

[Cha Yeowoon] : Can I join senior’s class?

Ending my conversation with Cheon Sangwon, I checked my vibrating phone.

Unless there was something else to do during lunch, like training, Cha Yeowoon would make it obvious that he wanted to hang out with me. It felt like a distant memory when he used to avoid me.

“Shoo. Go eat.”

“I’m going to eat with brother. I heard brother Gyeonghun went to club today. Since you probably don’t have anyone to eat with, why don’t you eat with me?”

“What are you saying? I already agreed to eat with Yeowoon.”

Cheon Sangwon, who had been smiling shamelessly just a moment ago, furrowed his eyebrows. But that was short-lived, and he soon smiled again.

“Let’s all eat together.”

“Do you want all of us to have upset stomachs together?”

“Eh, what do you mean upset stomachs?”

“Correction. Everyone but you.”

“I’ll treat you to some indigestion medicine.”

Crazy guy. After spending some time in a useless argument trying to get Cheon Sangwon to leave, the topic of the conversation walked through the back door of the classroom.

“Hello, Yeowoon.”

Cheon Sangwon naturally waved his hand at Cha Yeowoon. It was so natural that it was hard to imagine they were about to throw punches in the hallway before.

“Why are you in senior class?”

Of course, rather than accepting the greeting, Cha Yeowoon was impassive. He walked up to me and grabbed my shoulder without delay. I could sense a growl in his words.

“I don’t know either. He keeps coming to my class.”

“It just happens. Brother mentioned having lunch together, right? Let’s eat together.”

Cheon Sangwon grabbed my empty shoulder.

“Why would senior have lunch with you?”

Cha Yeowoon held my shoulder tighter. It wasn’t painful, but being stuck in the middle wasn’t comfortable.

“Hey. Don’t fight.”

I brushed off both hands resting on my shoulders at once. I was worried they might end up fighting like in the hallway last time. There was no need for them to behave like adversaries, immediately growling at each other upon being in the same vicinity.

“Just like Solomon, split me into pieces and share them between you two. Popularity is tiring.”

“Ah, then I’m the one with the head.”

Cheon Sangwon raised his hand quickly. This punk.

“I won’t split senior.”

It was fortunate that Cha Yeowoon gave a normal answer. He stopped looking at Cheon Sangwon in dissatisfaction and sighed.

“Senior, how about we three eat together?”

No way would I want that. A rebuttal rose up in my throat, but if I did that, we would end up arguing all lunch long.

“Sure. Let’s eat together.”

I made a decision to save the country. Or if not the country, at least it was a decision that would save lunch for three people.

Anyway, I was hungry. I didn’t want to starve while these two tormented me.

On the way to the school cafeteria, Cha Yeowoon and Cheon Sangwon maintained a certain distance from each other.

I found out while receiving school meals together that Cheon Sangwon was popular among the staff. If he acted cute and flirted, the tteok-galbi piled up.

Cha Yeowoon was popular in a different way. He didn’t say a word, but somehow he got more side dishes.

“Why is the lunch fee the same, but the amount of side dishes is different?”

“Do you want mine?”

“Senior, eat it.”

“No need. You guys eat more and grow.”

“I’m grown. 183cm. I’m taller than brother, don’t you think?”

“That tall?”

Cha Yeowoon shot a cold look at Cheon Sangwon.

“Yeowoon, have you always hated me so much? Let’s get along. We’re both on the track and field team.”

“Why did you join if you’re not going to run?”

“That’s too much. Am I not running?”

“Guys, don’t fight at the lunch table.”

Suddenly, I missed Ahn Gyeonghun. He was really calm and sensible.

“I heard brother decided to model for Ahn Sia’s shopping mall.”

There seemed to be a lull for a moment, but Cheon Sangwon spoke up again. I guess there was no option for him to eat quietly and leave.

“Model? It’s just a human-shaped clothes hanger part-time job, and I considered it because the pay is twice as much.”

“Do you want me to teach you?”

“If I have to learn, I’ll learn from Sia.”

Cha Yeowoon remained silent, furrowing his eyebrows and playing with his utensils instead of participating in the conversation. Seeing how cute he was when he quietly expresses his frustration, I realized that I was rather weak when it came to him.

“You’re getting wrinkles.”

When I gently pressed my thumb between Cha Yeowoon’s forehead, he dropped his utensil.

Clang.

The utensil hitting the plate made a noise.