Of course, maybe things were just calm right now, and if he kept watching, they might suddenly kiss. But if what Jae-min confirmed by waiting like that was ‘there’s no problem between them,’ then there was even less need to watch. It would just waste time and ruin his mood.
‘I should go now. I need to return to the practice room too.’
It was the moment he decided to leave the two alone and depart. Hyun-woong’s low voice reached Jae-min’s ears.
“How long are you going to keep this up?”
It was a question that made his ears perk up. Jae-min instantly restored his half-turned body to its original position.
Yun-ji, who had been chewing cake, set down her fork and propped her chin.
“Well. I haven’t set a time limit.”
“…Do you want him to regret it?”
Jae-min’s eyes widened. Though no name was mentioned, no matter how you heard it, this was about him. At Hyun-woong’s matter-of-fact question, Yun-ji, who had been silent for a moment, let out a sigh.
“I did at first. But now I don’t know. That bastard probably won’t regret it anyway.”
At the resigned tone, Jae-min flinched. He hadn’t reflected even a little on his words and actions when dating Yun-ji, or the parts Yun-ji had pointed out when they fought, nor had he regretted them. Yun-ji, who had closed her mouth with an annoyed expression, tilted her head and smiled playfully.
“Until I get a new person—would that be too much of an inconvenience to you?”
Hyun-woong didn’t answer. Jae-min, who had been frozen in surprise for a moment, furrowed his brow. Their conversation was full of ambiguous words, but he could notice the context was very suspicious. Especially discussing a time period was strange. As if they were in a contract relationship.
He seemed to understand the reason for the atmosphere that oddly didn’t feel like a date. Jae-min let out a hollow laugh.
‘Did the two of them scam me?’
There didn’t seem to be room for any other interpretation. If Yun-ji had fake-cheated with the thought of making a fool of Jae-min, that would be logically understandable.
But a question remained.
“I also have something to ask, Kang Hyun-woong.”
“What.”
“Why did you go along with my request?”
At Yun-ji’s question, Jae-min felt as if his insides cleared out. Because Jae-min, who had been piecing together the puzzle based on their overheard conversation, also didn’t understand exactly that part.
They weren’t even close friends to begin with, so why did Hyun-woong match mouths with Yun-ji and scam me?
“It doesn’t even seem like you particularly like me.”
At Yun-ji’s words delivered with pursed lips, Hyun-woong silently stirred his coffee with the straw. When Yun-ji, who had been waiting a moment, tapped the table urging him, Hyun-woong slightly raised his eyes.
“Do I have to answer?”
The low question was barely audible to Jae-min. He understood from lip reading. At that moment, Hyun-woong’s expression was frozen incomparably colder than usual. Jae-min was a bit surprised by the unfamiliar face.
Even without overhearing the previous conversation, it was a face that would make you doubt whether the two were really dating just from seeing that sharp expression alone.
Yun-ji, who had been staring at Hyun-woong without wavering, shook her head side to side.
“Forget it if you don’t want to.”
Yun-ji glanced at her wristwatch. Then showed it to Hyun-woong.
“It’s almost 5 o’clock already. You have to go now, right?”
“Yeah, because of workout time.”
“Okay, today was fun. Is it okay if I upload the photo we took earlier on social media?”
“Do as you like.”
“You’re really blunt!”
Yun-ji spoke in a tone mixed with laughter, but Hyun-woong got up from his chair without any reaction. Jae-min watched, wondering if he’d really leave alone. And he really did—Yun-ji stayed in her seat, and only Hyun-woong left.
Hyun-woong walked out in the exact opposite direction from the fashion store where Jae-min was hiding, without looking back. Jae-min was shocked by those steps without lingering attachment, but rather Yun-ji was calm as if she’d expected it. She poked the cake that was about half remaining with her fork.
‘I should leave quickly in this gap.’
Everything he saw and heard today was shocking, but there was no time to chew it over. Jae-min left the store, thinking to escape first. But he realized after walking for a while. The door Jae-min needed to exit from was on the opposite side.
“Damn it.”
Jae-min, clenching his molars tightly, pulled his hood deeper and walked toward the café direction again. Lest he get caught, he moved quickly with his head lowered all the way to the floor, when a desperate thing happened.
Familiar pink shoes entered his view. The pink shoes that had been clicking along stopped right in front of him.
“Lim Jae-min?”
An astonished voice pierced his ears. It seemed she hadn’t finished eating the remaining cake and gotten up as he’d thought. Letting out a deep sigh, Jae-min raised his head and faced Yun-ji.
“What are you? What are you doing here?”
Looking at Yun-ji pointing at him while covering her mouth with her hand, Jae-min laughed helplessly.
“What about you… what are you doing?”
He tried to act nonchalant, but failed. Jae-min asked with one corner of his mouth raised crookedly. Yun-ji’s eyes widened for a moment, then she pressed her forehead. She looked obviously surprised, but also seemed somewhat resigned.
“Want to talk for a bit?”
At Yun-ji’s question, Jae-min nodded. It was what he’d wanted.
Following her steps, Jae-min took out his phone. He sent Chi-won a message saying it would be hard to return to practice.
The two who came out of the shopping center moved to a nearby café. Jae-min frowned while looking at the bear dolls decorating here and there in the café. The interior concept was similar to ‘Coffee Bear’ near school. The café where Yun-ji had suddenly appeared with Hyun-woong and made the shocking declaration that he was her new boyfriend.
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, don’t you have anything to say?”
Yun-ji asked Jae-min crookedly as he looked around. Jae-min’s gaze returned to the front. He stared intently at Yun-ji.
“Yeah, you’re still…”
Jae-min’s gaze circled around Yun-ji’s pretty face and then slowly descended downward. Yun-ji was wearing a top with a heart-shaped cutout around the chest area. Through the hole in the t-shirt, Yun-ji’s cleavage was fully visible. Jae-min’s eyebrows twitched.
“Your chest is big.”
“You’re seriously the same as always. Crazy bastard.”
At Yun-ji’s sharp retort, Jae-min closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa. Jae-min, who slowly lifted his eyelids, smiled with a languid expression.
“People don’t change easily.”
“I was crazy to expect sentiment from you. Coming to a café and the talk is about those damn breasts.”
“Yun-ji, I got café trauma because of you. Especially cafés decorated with teddy bears like this! Even now my stomach is churning.”
“Hmph… but it’s just cute.”
“So?”
Jae-min, who had been leaning back and acting cocky, raised his chin. Yun-ji stared at Jae-min with a slightly awkward face.
“What’s the deal with you and Kang Hyun-woong?”
At the casually tossed question, Yun-ji gulped. She narrowed her eyes as if trying to gauge Jae-min’s insides and examined his expression, then soon averted her gaze.
“What do you mean. We’re dating.”
“It didn’t look like you’re dating? The way you were talking too.”
At the naturally returned response, Yun-ji’s lower back stiffened rigidly.
“…You saw earlier? How much did you hear from when?”
Her voice trembled a little as if anxious. Jae-min removed his back from the backrest and picked up the coffee cup placed on the table, leisurely taking a sip.
“I heard pretty much everything. You weren’t at the café for long, were you?”
“You heard everything we said at the café? No, how long had you been there?”
“Just hurry up and answer my question honestly.”
When he set the cup down on the glass table, it made a loud thud. Jae-min looked at Yun-ji intently with an expressionless face.
They’d once stuck together constantly as if each other’s other half, but Yun-ji’s expression now was very unfamiliar. She was obviously tense, but it was a resolute face as if she’d decided something. Yun-ji, who swallowed, met Jae-min’s eyes. In that instant, Jae-min asked in a voice mixed with a sigh.
“The dating thing, it’s a lie, right?”
Yun-ji stared at Jae-min silently, then exhaled a long breath and swept back her hair.
“Yeah, well. I didn’t think I could drag it out for long anyway. Ah! I was going to take a couple-like photo today and upload it, but I should just delete it.”
“It’s really a lie? Really?”
“What? Didn’t you already come here convinced?”
He had asked with conviction. But still, it felt different when Yun-ji acknowledged it. Yun-ji’s hair, casually swept back with her fingers, was disheveled, but the face revealed as her hair was pushed back shone smoothly. Yun-ji raised her chin and spoke haughtily.
“I pretended to have a new boyfriend because I wanted to hurt you.”
But immediately a bitter smile appeared on her lips.
“Though you probably weren’t even hurt.”
“What are you saying? I was hurt.”
