Even if I saw it this morning, I should pretend I didn’t know, Liam said while lightly pinching my cheek. Then he asked how about packing chow mein and egg fried rice for dinner.
“Sounds good. But somehow, that reminds me of a certain day.”
The day we first hung out together.
“Right? I also somehow feel very familiar with it.”
Liam played it cool lightly and smiled at me, and I smiled back at him once before heading to the Chinese restaurant.
“Every time I come here to do something with you, I secretly worry inside. What if Ted’s already here. But it always turns out my worries were groundless. He’s someone who camps out at the racetrack or holes up in some cheap bar and doesn’t come home all night, so what…”
Just as we arrived at the trailer and opened the door to light up the interior, Liam stopped talking about Ted mid-sentence. He stopped reaching for a bottle of soda from the refrigerator and extended his hand to me. I took that hand and gently rubbed it.
“After you rejected my hand for the first time… was it that day? Or the next day? Anyway, Ted happened to be home that day. But the fact that I was in a bad mood must have been obvious even to him. So he asked me. Son, did something happen? So I just said I fought with you. That maybe you’d never want to talk to me again.”
Liam said that much and then took me out to the flowerbed where the crape myrtles were planted. Then looking down at the flower buds that hadn’t fully bloomed yet, he said:
“When Ted heard that, he said this. He said it was a shame because he really wanted to show you these flowers blooming.”
“……”
“Ted is definitely not a good guardian. That person, when I give him living expenses from the scholarship I received as an offer, he goes to the racetrack bit by bit and drinks alcohol.”
“……”
“But he’s not a completely bad person either.”
Without agreeing or disagreeing with Liam’s words, I just fiddled with his hand. Liam stood blankly in front of the shabby flowerbed, then suddenly gripped my hand tightly and muttered:
“Wherever I go, I wish you’d always be close by.”
No matter how desperately Liam wants to keep me by his side, I can’t easily say I’ll stay by his side forever. This is above all a matter involving our future paths.
“That’s, Liam…”
When I couldn’t give a clear answer and was stalling for time, a noisy sound came from over there and someone I was certain I would never run into here appeared.
“…Olivia?”
When Liam, who discovered Olivia’s presence one step ahead of me, mentioned her name, Olivia opened her eyes wide and looked at us. We quickly let go of our joined hands and asked her what brought her all the way here.
“Never mind, you two, don’t move a single step from here.”
At Olivia’s threat, we nodded and waited for what would happen next. Shortly after, an expensive-looking sedan stopped near Olivia and Aiden got out of it. As soon as Aiden saw Olivia, he confronted her asking what she was doing in a place like this, then discovered me and Liam and scowled viciously.
“What are these bastards doing here again?”
“Party.”
When Olivia replied coolly, Aiden retorted asking what kind of party you have in a rotten trailer park.
“Why? You can have one. If the rotten trailer park is right in front of our house. And well, it’s not like I invited amazing people. Look, track team loser and football team loser. And… even me, a cheer loser, wanting to have a loser party in a loser neighborhood, is that strange?”
I definitely saw it. The sight of Liam genuinely happily laughing at the part where Olivia said ‘football team loser.’ But can the words ‘football team’ and ‘loser’ be used together?
“Since when have you been hanging out with these guys…”
“Never mind, now go your way! You went to college anyway. Live comfortably there dating a new girlfriend, and please stop caring about me!”
“What have I not done for you all this time? I literally did everything for you.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem. You did things for me that I didn’t even ask for. That was embarrassing and unpleasant! And you, didn’t you beat up Hazel? You’re like that with everything. You only know how to use your fists. I hate that. And this clingy behavior too! Why do you persistently chase after a person, making me confess that I live in a place like this!”
“…You, is it true you live here?”
What if she shows him, Olivia asked Aiden and personally opened the door of the most run-down trailer here. Then she brought out her cheerleading equipment from the trailer. Seeing this, Aiden was at a loss for words for a moment, then snorted.
“Pfft, she talked like she was the daughter of an incredibly rich family… It was all lies.”
“Yeah. It was lies. Why, are you disappointed to find out I’m poor?”
“Whatever. Be honest. You wanted to break up because I’m going to college soon and it would be hard to cling to me, right?”
“No. I, you…!”
Aiden snorted again as if he wouldn’t listen to anything Olivia said now, and said this:
“Got tangled up with some trashy bitch… Anyway, you wait and see, I’ll make it so you can’t even show your face at school.”
After Aiden left with that warning, Olivia sat down right on the ground and spat out a single curse.
“Fuck.”
“…Hey.”
When Liam called her, Olivia growled that if he spoke to her one more time, she’d rip out his tongue.
“Why are you being so aggressive? You’re the one who first mentioned the loser party and all. As the party host, you’re not going to do anything?”
As soon as Liam demanded she at least play some music, Olivia picked up a rock at her feet and threw it at Liam. That rock fell without hitting Liam by a hair’s breadth, and Liam was convinced Olivia deliberately didn’t hit him.
“With her athletic ability, if she had tried to hit me, she definitely would have hit me and more. Come to think of it, all three of us are athletes. Though the events are different.”
“That’s a common point, but I’m one thing, but you two being losers…”
At my words, Liam made a very puzzled expression. Then he asked if I didn’t know the story going around these days.
“Me, you know. I’ve been called a loser since sometime. Especially the team guys call me that. I don’t care so I’m leaving it alone, but if it gets too serious, I’m going to tell the coach. Our coach, even though he seems to ignore me tremendously, he listens to my words well. If I say I don’t have good teamwork with this guy, this guy ignores me, he’ll immediately demote that kid to bench status.”
When Liam spoke, Olivia sarcastically said how impressive. Then she said Liam being called a loser was because of me and Virgil.
“He hangs out with losers so he gets called a loser too. How clear is that?”
“But you, just now you also called yourself a loser…”
“Who says I’m not? I am a loser. You, haven’t you heard other kids gossiping about me? They always talk as if they pity me. Saying I struggle desperately because I can’t get people’s attention, saying I’m frantic to fit in among popular kids.”
While Olivia chattered on at length, Liam suddenly operated his smartphone and played music loudly. Then the angry Olivia confronted him asking what kind of manners it was to play loud music when someone was talking.
“Your talking is noisier than the song. Demon hag.”
“What?”
“Demon hag. Don’t you even remember your nickname from just a few years ago?”
“This really…! Ah, right. You were ‘Bedwetter Liam,’ right?”
Olivia exposed to me the fact that when Liam was 8 years old, he watched a scary movie and had an accident in his sleep. However, Liam only reacted leisurely saying ‘those were the good old days,’ which stoked Olivia’s anger.
“I’m really going to kill you!”
“Demon hag, you’re always like that. You talk as if your life is really disgusting and unpleasant and annoying, but in the end you just walk in place. Last time too, you talked about image renewal or whatever, then after breaking up with Aiden, it’s Hazel. Uh-hum.”
“…Who was it that interfered with what I was trying to do then?”
“I only stopped it because something was really wrong. And can I give you one piece of advice? Changing the people around you might be one way to raise your brand value, but isn’t the most important thing for you yourself to change?”
“Don’t preach. Is there really much difference between you now and you in the past?”
Olivia glared fiercely and confronted Liam.
“Yeah, there’s not much difference between me now and in the past. But I do make efforts to change.”
“You think I don’t?”
“You depend too much on people… No. Who am I talking about right now.”
“…Loser bastard.”
When Olivia jeered, Liam answered in a weak voice, yeah.
“Bedwetter.”
“I get it. Demon hag.”
This is the first time I’ve seen Liam using this sharp, biting tone. I observed this Liam I was meeting for the first time with a bit of wonder, and as soon as he made eye contact with me, he smiled gently as if he had never been sharp.
“Sorry, Tchaikovsky. I showed you something a bit unseemly. And about me not being able to control my pee properly until I was 8, please don’t tell anyone if possible.”
“Why would I talk about that?”
“Just in case. You know, right. Someone like me…”
When Liam was about to say something, Olivia suddenly barged in and continued his words while imitating his voice:
“Because it would be embarrassing if rumors spread that someone as great as me couldn’t control their pee until that age. What a damn fuss. That goddamn prince disease hasn’t been cured, has it?”
“Prince disease? I’m a king. The undisputed king of the school.”
