Chapter 49. I Can’t Help It
Although Haeyoung wasn’t particularly fond of things like stuffed animals or bouquets, for some reason, she felt compelled to nod in agreement.
Her gaze was not just earnest, but tinged with a bit of sadness.
“Well… that one looks kind of nice.”
Finally, Haeyoung pointed to the star-shaped cushion and nodded her head.
Once given the go-ahead, Taeseong immediately handed the money to the vendor and took the darts.
“Alright, the star-shaped cushion is yours if you hit fifteen targets.”
After the vendor explained the goal, Taeseong nodded and, with determination, took his first shot.
However, the dart didn’t even come close to the balloon, despite how easy it had seemed on the surface.
It was harder than it looked. The reason the other men were struggling became clear.
Taeseong, now more focused, threw another dart.
However, out of the fifteen darts he paid ten thousand won for, only three hit the balloons.
His pride took a serious hit as he pulled another ten thousand won out of his wallet.
“…Give me more.”
“Hey, come on. Let’s just go.”
Haeyoung tried to stop him.
But at that moment, a loud cheer came from the end of the line.
“Honey! Over here! I want that one!”
It seemed the last customer had knocked out the darts with impressive skill.
With a proud look, the man raised his shoulder at a right angle and pointed to a large teddy bear.
“Boss, I want that one. I hit twenty balloons.”
The vendor walked over to the end of the row to check the number of balloons burst.
“Wow, you must’ve been a sniper in your past life.”
With a dissatisfied expression, the vendor took the large teddy bear from the display and handed it to the man.
Immediately, the bear was passed into the woman’s arms.
“Thank you, honey.”
The woman, holding the teddy bear, gave the man a brief kiss on the cheek.
All eyes in the game area turned toward the couple.
Taeseong and Haeyoung were no exception.
While Haeyoung thought to herself they’re making a scene in the middle of the market, Taeseong’s competitive spirit was stirred.
It seemed the other men were also no different.
Following Taeseong, the other men began to eagerly request more darts.
It was clear that competitive DNA ran deep in all men.
Haeyoung, having given up on stopping him, shook her head.
As the evening approached, Haeyoung led Taeseong down a less crowded street, away from the market.
Taeseong followed her with his shoulders slumped, trailing behind her the whole way.
It was all because he hadn’t won the star-shaped cushion.
With a somewhat dejected pace, they stopped at a local convenience store.
Haeyoung sat Taeseong down on a bench outside the store.
“Wait here, I’ll go grab something to drink.”
“Okay.”
Taeseong gave a short response, shoving his hands into his pockets and lowering his head.
He kicked the ground lightly, heading in the direction where no one was around.
“Sigh…”
He muttered to himself as he glanced up at the red sky.
“If I’d just done one more round, I would’ve won that cushion.”
As he stared at the fading sky, reflecting on the recent game, Haeyoung suddenly appeared in front of him.
“Hey, you’ll get a stiff neck like that.”
She was holding two warm bottles of soy milk in her hands.
“Here, drink this.”
But more specifically, the bottles had little star-shaped keychains dangling from the caps.
Taeseong raised his hand to take the warm soy milk and turned his head back toward her.
“What’s this?”
He poked at the star keychain on the bottle.
“You were feeling down, so I got this for you.”
Haeyoung shook the bottle in her hand, causing the keychain to jingle playfully.
“I saw these and thought they were pretty. If you couldn’t get the cushion, just buy it, right? So, cheer up!”
Taeseong continued to gaze at the small yellow star on the bottle and then asked:
“…Wait, so earlier when you said you were going to the restroom…”
“Yep, I went to buy this.”
Haeyoung smiled broadly as she pulled the keychain off the bottle.
After unscrewing the cap, she took a sip of the warm soy milk.
“Mmm, it’s warm.”
She gently ran her tongue over her lips before pausing to say:
“By the way, do you know?”
“What?”
Haeyoung tapped her feet lightly on the ground, making her voice sound a little shy.
“This is where we first met.”
Taeseong was surprised by her words and turned his gaze toward the convenience store sign.
To be honest, he couldn’t remember all the details, but something about it felt familiar.
This was the place where he and Haeyoung had argued over ice cream.
“Isn’t it amazing? Time passes so quickly.”
Her voice, soft and full of nostalgia, carried a trace of memories.
“Back then, I never thought we’d end up like this.”
“Yeah…”
“But marriage… Even now, it still feels absurd.”
Haeyoung chuckled softly.
“But still, it turned out better than expected. Becoming friends with you.”
Her calm words resonated deeply within Taeseong.
The word friends stirred something inside him, for some reason.
“When we think of being nineteen, I think we’ll both remember each other first, don’t you think?”
“…”
“Whether we want to or not.”
Her voice carried a bittersweet tone, and Taeseong turned his head to look at her.
“Are you really acting like we’ll never see each other again?”
“I don’t think we’ll never see each other again, but if we get divorced and I leave home, it’ll be hard to see you, won’t it?”
Haeyoung looked at Taeseong, a faint smile playing on her lips as she calmly spoke about the future.
“When we go to college, we’ll each have new worlds. We’ll slowly drift apart. And then the memories of being nineteen will fade away slowly.”
Her smile was warm, but her words were cold and realistic.
Taeseong’s gaze became sharp, as if he didn’t like what he was hearing.
“And by the time we forget those memories, maybe we’ll have achieved our dreams or even remarried to someone else?”
Though not each other.
She struggled to hold back the last words, closing her lips tightly.
There was a brief silence after Haeyoung’s words. The air became heavy, but before it could settle, Taeseong’s voice broke through.
“What’s with your choice of words? Fading away?”
“It’s just natural.”
Even with Taeseong’s sharp response, Haeyoung replied without a hint of offense.
“We’ll live our lives, forget each other, then meet again when we’ve succeeded and fulfilled our dreams. You promised to write a drama with me, right?”
“Ah, so you’ll only use me to get the sweet benefits when I succeed?”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“Listen closely.”
Taeseong put his soy milk down with a thunk, fixing his gaze on Haeyoung.
“I’m not interested in just being the one who gives you everything.”
“…”
“I’ll be there for you when you’re twenty, and when you’re twenty-one, too.”
His voice was firmer than ever.
“So don’t take me out of your life whenever you feel like it.”
His words could sound like a plea, but his expression made it seem more like a threat.
Haeyoung, looking at Taeseong’s contradictory expression, gave a faint smile.
Then she made a promise, albeit a half-hearted one.
“Alright, I’ll do that.”
Haeyoung couldn’t keep Taeseong in her life as a friend while also carrying feelings for him.
And she couldn’t be a part of his life either.
The sun dipped below the horizon, and the world darkened.
The end of nineteen was growing even closer.
As the sun set, there was a strange feeling that time was moving even faster.
The streets grew busier, and the atmosphere became more lively.
Taeseong and Haeyoung sat in front of the convenience store, chatting casually, before heading to a bustling restaurant area for dinner.
Afterward, they spent some time in a cafe, then decided to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks countdown.
With about an hour left until the new year, the two of them made their way outside.
Despite it being late at night, the streets were still noisy as they made their way through the crowd. Suddenly, Taeseong’s phone rang.
He pulled it out of his pocket, silenced the sound, and put it back.
“Aren’t you going to answer?”
“It’s a spam call.”
It didn’t seem like a mere advertisement; Taeseong’s face was stiff.
“Who calls with spam at this hour?”
As Haeyoung tilted her head in curiosity, Taeseong grabbed her wrist, distracting her.
“If we don’t hurry, we won’t get a good spot. Let’s go quickly.”
“Oh, okay.”
The phone rang a few more times after that.
Eventually, Taeseong switched his phone to silent mode, but Haeyoung faintly noticed something.
She had a feeling that the person calling Taeseong was probably Minju.
