Chapter 2 …
I immediately opened my phone and went into the calendar. It seemed that when I changed my phone this time, my information hadn’t synced properly. Chaehyun’s birthday wasn’t registered.
“Was my brother’s birthday the 19th…?”
I asked casually, as if it had just come to mind. Seoyeon answered without paying much attention.
“I think so?”
As expected, I was right. Things like this somehow stick in your memory even without trying. I belatedly entered Chaehyun’s birthday into the calendar.
Ah, but normally messenger apps show when it’s a friend’s birthday, don’t they? Maybe it did appear and I just didn’t notice. Or for some reason it never showed up. It had to be one of those.
Nam Chaehyun’s birthday.
Once I finished adding the schedule, it became painfully clear how many days had already passed.
Yoo Eunsaem, you’ve gotten pretty lazy. You even missed the birthday of someone you like…
With a disappointed pout, I popped the birthday gift someone else had given him into my mouth. It was sweet and delicious.
“You know, right? Salty and spicy food goes perfectly with sweet things. Eat this and then have tteokbokki—it’s the perfect combo.”
Nam Seoyeon said it, and I nodded half-heartedly.
“But this is something your brother received as a gift. Is it really okay for us to eat it?”
“Chaehyun never eats stuff like this anyway. I eat it all. It’s fine.”
The sweetness spread through my mouth, but instead of cheering me up, it made me feel strangely gloomy.
Chaehyun, this is a present for you.
I imagined the people who must have called his name and wished him happy birthday while giving these gifts. Maybe that was why. The thought of Nam Chaehyun receiving all those presents made his status seem even higher again.
I thought I had pretty niche taste…
But maybe he was actually mainstream.
So many people liked the same person I liked.
For some reason, my heart stung.
“Your brother’s really popular…”
I muttered quietly, almost too softly to hear. Seoyeon clicked her tongue while grabbing another macaron.
“What’s the point of that? His personality is trash.”
Seoyeon always talked about her brother like this. She’d say he had a terrible personality, that he was two-faced, that if all men in the world were like him she’d never want to date anyone.
As I listened, I felt a little jealous of Seoyeon’s position—being someone who could see even the lowest sides of Nam Chaehyun.
And that was also the reason I couldn’t tell her that I liked her brother.
To Seoyeon, people who liked Nam Chaehyun were practically abnormal.
“Hey, do you think Park Chanseong noticed?”
Seoyeon suddenly asked. Now that her feelings had been exposed, she looked like she was dying to talk about it. Her eyes sparkled. The expression on her face was completely different from when she mentioned Nam Chaehyun.
I laughed.
“Park Chanseong is totally oblivious. I doubt he noticed.”
“…Right?”
We were lying on the living room floor chatting away about Park Chanseong when the intercom rang. The tteokbokki we ordered had finally arrived. While Seoyeon went to the door to get it, I cleaned up the table.
“What should we watch while we eat?”
“Let’s watch a movie. Didn’t something new come out recently?”
While I set up the food containers on the table, Seoyeon grabbed the remote and browsed through the streaming channel looking for a movie. Then she turned off the living room lights and even drew the curtains, making the room dark.
“Hey, it’s too dark. How are we supposed to eat tteokbokki like this?”
I complained, but Seoyeon didn’t listen and just started the movie.
Seriously, she never listens to anyone…
“No one’s coming home soon, right?”
I asked nervously.
“Yeah. Mom’s been working late a lot these days.”
“…What about your brother?”
“He’s a high schooler. Of course he’ll be late.”
Seoyeon’s father had been transferred to work in another region and only came home occasionally on weekends, which meant no one would come back until the movie ended.
It was even the kind of situation where it’d be fine if I took off my damp, uncomfortable school uniform shirt.
I unbuttoned the shirt and slipped it off, then pulled the T-shirt tucked into my skirt out.
The movie title was “Finding Love at the Beach.”
It looked like a romance about young people who go to the beach during summer vacation and find love there.
“Ah!”
Seoyeon, staring at the TV, dropped a rice cake. But her reflexes were good—she caught it with her hand.
“Wow.”
I gave her a thumbs-up at the impressive move. Saying she’d go wash it, Seoyeon got up. I heard the bathroom door close and turned my attention back to the TV.
It was supposed to be a romance, but the mood felt strange.
The people who had been sitting on the beach in broad daylight, strumming acoustic guitars and watching the sparkling sea… suddenly changed expressions once night fell.
“What the heck? Why is it so creepy?”
I picked up some glass noodles with my chopsticks and brought them to my mouth. To avoid Seoyeon’s earlier accident, I leaned my face over the bowl and carefully slurped the noodles.
Just as I finished pulling them into my mouth, the protagonist on the TV pulled out a knife.
What? What’s going on? Why all of a sudden?
I slowly chewed the noodles and swallowed.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a romance about young people?
Just as I froze, sensing that something bad was about to happen, I heard the sound of the door lock being pressed.
Someone had arrived.
Surprised by the unexpected return, I turned my head.
Seoyeon had said everyone would be late.
Maybe because of the movie, but suddenly my heart started pounding loudly. Seoyeon was still in the bathroom. For no reason at all, anxiety crept in, and I gripped my chopsticks tightly.
On the TV, just as the protagonist hid the knife behind his back and opened the door—
the lock clicked, and the front door opened.
To avoid getting tteokbokki sauce on my uniform, I had taken off my shirt and was only wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt. My long hair, which got in the way while eating, was neatly tied up.
I had never imagined running into someone other than Seoyeon like this.
Blinking in embarrassment, I watched as a tall man walked in.
He wore navy school uniform pants and a shirt with a couple of buttons undone. Since he didn’t have an umbrella, he shook his wet hair as he came in. Then he glanced up—and saw me sitting in the middle of the living room.
Gasp.
I swallowed without meaning to.
Even in the dark, he looked like he was glowing.
Droplets of water flicked off as he ran his fingers through his wet hair. Brown hair. Deep double eyelids.
“Oh, Eunsaem. Long time no see.”
His low, gentle voice called my name.
“Ah… hello.”
Still on my knees, I quickly stood and bowed. Chaehyun laughed softly.
“Hi.”
Just that greeting made my heart pound.
“What are you eating?”
“Tteokbokki. Do you want some too?”
“No, I’m good.”
I saw his gaze shift from me to the TV. At the same time, a scream erupted from the movie.
What—what was that?
I whipped my head back to the screen.
The beach at night was now covered in blood and chaos.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a romance?
“Wow, that’s brutal. Isn’t this rated adults-only?”
“I don’t know. Seoyeon turned it on.”
Acting like it had nothing to do with me, I grabbed the remote from the floor and immediately turned the TV off.
Not Finding Love at the Beach.
More like Finding Bodies at the Beach.
Why were people killing each other?
Realizing we had mistaken the genre, I let out a quiet sigh. Then I noticed the macaron box with empty spaces where some had been taken.
Ah… these were gifts for him, weren’t they?
Should we really have eaten them?
Maybe I should hide it.
“Where’s Seoyeon?”
“She went to the bathroom.”
“Ah.”
After a short response, Chaehyun headed to the laundry room. As he walked, he unbuttoned and took off his shirt. His broad shoulders made me unconsciously sit up straighter.
After leaving the shirt in the laundry room, he came out and stopped in the kitchen to pour himself a cup of water.
This was my chance.
I quickly grabbed the macaron box and slid it under the table.
Chaehyun walked toward me from the kitchen. The distance between us got closer and closer.
Wait… why is he coming this way?
Is he going to take the macarons?
I blinked nervously.
Leaning forward slightly, he set his cup down on the table. Then he met my eyes.
My heart almost dropped.
“Is it spicy?”
Was he talking about the tteokbokki?
“No?”
I shook my head.
Chaehyun smiled faintly and straightened back up.
As he moved away, a refreshing scent lingered around him. It was a smell I had never encountered before, and I couldn’t find the words to describe it.
Just before Chaehyun went into his room, Seoyeon came out of the bathroom.
“What the heck? Why are you home so early?”
she asked.
“Mock exam. And you? Shouldn’t you be at the academy right now?”
Trying to attack him backfired, and Seoyeon’s face twisted.
Come to think of it, Seoyeon was great at attacking but terrible at defending.
For some reason I felt like an accomplice in her ditching the academy, so I nervously looked back and forth between them.
“There’s no class today.”
“Want me to call and check?”
“Why would you call my academy?”
Seoyeon shouted angrily. Chaehyun frowned like the noise was annoying.
“Our little sister’s turning into a delinquent.”
“Seriously? Skipping one academy class makes me a delinquent? Sounds like you’re introducing yourself.”
“Eunsaem, do you yell at your brother like this too?”
Suddenly the question was directed at me.
I blinked at Chaehyun looking at me and opened my mouth—
but Seoyeon cut in.
“Eunsaem doesn’t even have a brother.”
“Oh? Then does she have a sister?”
“She doesn’t have siblings at all. Why are you acting like you know things when you don’t? Just mind your business and go to your room!”
“Wow, listen to that voice.”
Chaehyun shook his head like he was fed up, then looked back at me.
“You’re an only child?”
“Huh? Oh… yes.”
I nodded.
Seoyeon shoved Chaehyun’s back impatiently.
“Hey, stop bothering us and go to your room.”
“Hey, I’m talking with Eunsaem. Why are you so desperate to shove me into my room? Seoyeon, do you secretly have a possessive streak? Do you like Eunsaem?”
Chaehyun asked teasingly.
Seoyeon frowned like she had just heard nonsense.
But my cheeks suddenly grew warm.
“What kind of nonsense is that? She’s my friend, of course I like her! And why are you so obsessed with talking to my friend? Do you like Eunsaem or something? Huh?”
Seoyeon tossed the words casually.
But to me, they felt like a bomb.
Seriously—why drag me into this?!
Embarrassed, I lowered my gaze to the bowl of tteokbokki.
Then Chaehyun answered calmly.
“I do like her.”
Boom.
My chest thumped.
My cheeks felt as red as the tteokbokki in front of me.
“I think Eunsaem’s really pretty. I like her more than you.”
Good heavens.
My heart felt like it might burst straight through my chest.
