Chapter 48 …
I had already been feeling restless, so on my way to the convenience store to grab a cold drink, I ended up picking one.
As it happened, they had the same drink Jung Taehun had given me before. I chose it out of a strange sense of fondness, but the moment I did, I wondered if I shouldn’t have. My mood only sank further.
Come to think of it, at some point my daily life had become filled entirely with Jung Taehun.
He knew everything about my schedule, my friends, the places I frequented. Yet compared to how much he knew about me, I didn’t know nearly as much about him.
It wasn’t that he hid things—Taehun was actually the type to talk freely about his day or his friends even without being asked. Maybe that was why I’d never felt the need to ask more. And since I’d never visited the Business Administration department, aside from the time he spent with me, I’d never really had the chance to see what his school life was like.
I had just turned the corner to head back to my room when—
Thud.
I bumped into someone.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Haeeju?”
I looked up to see Hyunwoo staring at me.
“Oh, sunbae.”
“I was actually on my way to find you. Perfect timing. Want to step outside and talk for a bit? I’ll buy you a drink—”
His gaze shifted to the can in my hand.
“Oh, I’ve got two anyway, so I’ll treat you. You’ve bought me plenty before, sunbae.”
“…Okay.”
Hyunwoo accepted the can—its design tacky, with chocolate printed over a bright yellow background—his expression unreadable.
We sat on a bench overlooking the swimming pool. I popped open my drink first.
“Haeeju, you said you were looking for a tutoring job. Did you find one?”
“Not yet. I guess because I’m a freshman, it’s not that easy.”
I answered with a slightly dejected face.
“Then this should be good news.”
Hyunwoo smiled as he continued.
“A close friend of one of my students has a younger sibling looking for a Korean language tutor. It’s a girl, so they want a female teacher. She lived overseas for a long time, so Korean’s apparently difficult for her. She’s in her third year of middle school, and the lessons would just be prep before entering high school. They’re not necessarily looking for an entrance-exam specialist.”
I looked at him in surprise.
“Don’t tell me…”
“Want to try it?”
“Yes!”
I brightened instantly.
“She wants two hours on Saturday mornings. Would that work for you? And as for pay—”
“It’s fine. I’ll do it no matter what!”
As I eagerly agreed again and again, Hyunwoo chuckled warmly.
“You should at least hear the pay before deciding.”
“I trust you, sunbae. If it wasn’t a good opportunity, you wouldn’t have brought it up to me in the first place.”
He looked at me, my face full of excitement. Seeing me happy seemed to make him happy too. And those clear eyes of mine, trusting him completely—he seemed to like that as well.
“I’ll send you the details by message, so check it.”
“Thank you. I’ll work hard.”
“Good. I’m counting on you.”
“Of course.”
When our conversation wound down, the yellow can I had been unconsciously rolling in my hands caught my eye.
Hyunwoo spoke up.
“By the way, Haeeju, do you usually like that drink?”
At his question, I stared blankly at the yellow can.
“I got it from someone not long ago, and since I saw it again, I decided to try it. When I was little, I liked the powdered version you mix with milk, but I didn’t know it came in a can too. Do you like it, sunbae?”
“Yeah, I do. I’ll enjoy it.”
He popped open the can and gulped it down.
The drink Haeeju had given him was one Jung Taehun had gotten hooked on during the military and still drank occasionally even after being discharged.
Hyunwoo hadn’t even looked at it since his own discharge. But for some reason, he hated the feeling of losing out to Jung Taehun, so he drained the can in one go.
As seniors and juniors in the same department, there were plenty of chances for Hyunwoo and me to talk or run into each other. During the week, we even had lunch together a few times.
We were naturally growing closer, yet somehow it felt like we were drifting further from the kind of relationship he actually wanted.
Or maybe he simply lacked confidence.
How could he make me see him differently? How could he become someone better for me than Jung Taehun?
And then there was the question I’d asked him that dawn during OT, when the two of us had been left alone.
“Haeeju.”
“Yes?”
“What kind of style do you like?”
At his question, I looked at him, slightly flustered.
—
Crunch.
Taehun ground his teeth as he stared toward the main building.
“Hey, Jung Taehun, what are you doing? Hey, hey! You crushed the box!”
“Take this. They said to set it up in the auditorium on the second floor of the main building.”
“Huh? Oh… okay.”
Shoving the dented box into his friend’s arms, Taehun sprinted toward the main building.
As he approached, Hyunwoo spotted him first and stiffened.
Taehun stopped right in front of us in an instant.
“Sunbae?”
I looked up at him in confusion.
Taehun ran a hand through his hair as he caught his breath. The faint outline of muscle showed beneath his loose white T-shirt.
“Ha… What are you two doing?”
“We were talking.”
“About what?”
“Oh, nothing much. I think Hyunwoo sunbae was about to set me up on a blind date, so I was in the middle of declining.”
“A blind date?”
Taehun arched one eyebrow and looked down at Hyunwoo.
As if.
Anyone could tell Lee Hyunwoo was interested in Seo Haeeju.
Sure enough, Hyunwoo pressed a hand to his forehead, half-covering his face as if troubled.
“…What are you here for, Jung Taehun?”
“I had something to say to the junior, and she just happened to be here.”
“Then say it and go.”
“It’s something I need to say to her alone. Why don’t you step away?”
“Ha…”
Hyunwoo shot Taehun an irritated glance before standing up.
Then, as if flipping a switch, he turned to me with a warm, senior-like smile.
That sly fox.
Taehun ground his teeth inwardly.
“See you later.”
“Yes, sunbae.”
Once Hyunwoo went inside, I looked at Taehun curiously.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“Talk?”
“You said you had something to say.”
Still glaring at Hyunwoo’s retreating back, Taehun finally turned his gaze to me.
“So. Lee Hyunwoo was going to set you up on a blind date?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Why?”
“He asked me what kind of style I like. When I answered, I thought maybe he was trying to set me up, so I said it was okay and turned him down. I told him I think there’s someone things are going well with right now.”
“…Huh?”
“Well, there’s no other reason he’d ask me something like that unless it was for a blind date, right?”
“….”
“Um… why are you laughing?”
Taehun stared blankly for a second, then suddenly burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking.
“Ah, this is insane.”
He doubled over, laughing so hard he nearly folded in half. If he’d been on the ground, he would’ve been rolling.
“Why are you laughing?”
“The person things are going well with right now is me. I’m laughing because I’m happy—why else?”
“Well, we’re just… kind of in a 썸.”
“God, you’re cute.”
Grinning, Taehun casually placed his hand over mine on the bench. The warmth against the back of my hand felt comforting.
“Was that what you drank with Lee Hyunwoo?”
“Yes.”
“You bought it, didn’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“There are ways to know.”
He smiled to himself, clearly pleased.
Every time Taehun drank that beverage, Hyunwoo used to react as if he were sick of it.
Though he didn’t like that Hyunwoo had received a drink from Seo Haeeju, imagining him forcing himself to drink something he disliked wasn’t entirely unpleasant either.
And he liked the fact that it was the very first drink he had ever bought for her. Since she’d bought it herself, she must like it too.
“Is there any left?”
“Yes.”
Taehun overlapped his hand over mine, which was holding the can. Leaning down, he took a sip.
Gulp.
His Adam’s apple bobbed noticeably as he swallowed. For some reason, I couldn’t look away.
He even sucked up the last lingering drop where his lips had touched before turning to look at me.
“Seo Haeeju.”
“Yes.”
“Just keep doing things like this.”
Peck.
He kissed me briefly, then leaned back again.
He licked the sweet trace left on his lips with his tongue.
I froze for a moment before gasping in shock.
“Are you crazy? People can see us!”
“So what? I wouldn’t care if this were broadcast live to the entire world. You seem to misunderstand something—I’m dying to date you right now. Do you think I’d hide just because someone saw us kiss? If anything, I’m frustrated I can’t do more out in the open.”
“…”
“I’m constantly debating when to confess, but you still seem to have a lot on your mind, so I’m waiting for you to sort that out. Of course, I won’t use you as an excuse—I’ll ace my finals and take top of the department too. So if it’s just a kiss, I’d say I got off cheap.”
