Chapter 13
There are things they can’t hide because they know each other too well. A prime example was their ability to perceive even the slightest emotional shifts in each other.
In that sense, Heena knew what this awkward silence, lurking everywhere, meant.
“You’re a bit….”
Yohan, who had been silent, spoke first.
“Careless with your words?”
“…….”
I’m so happy. Was that being careless with her words? It seemed he was definitely mistaken.
Sure enough.
“Well, yeah. We’re not in a position to say things like that to each other anymore.”
“The seaweed….”
“Huh?”
“Not you. I’m so happy that I can eat the seaweed with the kimchi stew….”
Hearing those words, Yohan blinked several times. His ears turned bright red. It looked like blood would spurt out if pricked with a needle.
✦⋆🍒.₊ ⊹
Even if a royal feast were laid out before her, eating with an ex-boyfriend would make it impossible to tell whether the food was going up her nose or down her throat.
“I don’t have much of an appetite today.”
“You’ve already cleared two bowls of rice.”
Heena lightly ignored Yohan’s words and wiped her mouth with a tissue. She had no appetite, but her stomach was full.
“You’d be inhuman if you weren’t full after eating that much.”
Yohan, continuing to tease her, was already on his third bowl of rice.
She wanted to lock him up in her house and make him cook three meals a day. She had often thought this while dating Yohan. If she had been born a woman in the Joseon Dynasty, she would have made an excellent housemaid.
Heena quietly watched Yohan eat. Yohan used to adjust his eating pace for her, as she hated it when the other person put down their spoon first.
She briefly wondered if he was pushing himself today as well, but she was completely wrong. He was engrossed in devouring the kimchi stew and rice, oblivious to her.
It… bothered her.
If she weren’t bothered by him, wouldn’t she be inhuman? Lost in thought for a moment at the table, Heena finally regained her senses after filling her stomach and thought about the ex-boyfriend in front of her.
“I told you to answer your phone.”
On a day she was out drinking with friends, she had put her phone in her coat pocket and forgotten about it. When she checked her phone while her friends were in the restroom, she saw 43 missed calls. All from Seo Yohan.
Startled, she was about to call him back, but there was no need. Seo Yohan was already walking into the pub.
“You came all the way here because I didn’t answer my phone?”
“Didn’t answer your phone? You just didn’t answer? No, that’s not it. Jeong Heena, you haven’t answered for two hours.”
“Even so, you thought to come all the way here?”
Her friends, who had been in the restroom, were returning to the table. Their glances, alternating between Yohan and Heena, were filled with bewildered confusion.
Frankly, it was embarrassing. A boyfriend who came all the way here because she hadn’t answered her phone for two hours, in front of all her friends…. Heena’s face burned.
“Sorry, guys. I have to go.”
She grabbed Yohan’s wrist and pulled him outside, leading him to a deserted alley. It was the middle of winter, with their breath misting in the cold air.
Yohan let out a shaky breath and asked,
“Are you embarrassed by me?”
“No. I’m embarrassed by what you did, not by you.”
He was a boyfriend she had nothing to be ashamed of. Tall, handsome, a genius from a good university, and a fool who only knew her, that was Seo Yohan. But sometimes, like this, her face burned with embarrassment. When he acted as if she was the only person in the world.
“I told you to understand when I’m with my friends and can’t answer my phone! Did I join a table with other guys? Did I go to a club? Did I cheat on you? I’m just catching up with my friends over drinks after a long time, is it so hard to wait for that?”
Heena glared at him, her eyes sharp. Yohan stared back, his eyes filled with defiance.
“Yes. It’s hard. It’s fucking hard for me.”
“Why…!”
“I worry about what might have happened, if you’re drunk, if something bad will happen to you on your way home. I’m constantly worried. I’m going crazy with worry. Two hours, not even one, is a long time to wait, for me.”
“You’re being overly sensitive. Other people’s boyfriends aren’t like this!”
“Then go out with them. I can’t do that, and if you had just answered your phone, I wouldn’t have come all the way here.”
“Ha, please, Yohan!”
Heena ran a hand through her hair. A long sigh escaped her lips, her breath misting in the air.
“Let’s break up. I can’t take it anymore. Go out with someone who answers their phone like you want. I can’t do that.”
They broke up like that, then got back together, then broke up again over small arguments, repeating the cycle. For seven years.
Their longest period apart was one month, the shortest, one hour.
“I was… a bit harsh back then. I’m sorry, Jeong Heena.”
“Why are you the one crying while apologizing…?”
“I’m not crying, my eyes just welled up a bit.”
“Your tears are welling up to your chin? Whatever. It’s not the first time we’ve fought and broken up, then gotten back together. I was sorry too. I’ll answer my phone from now on.”
“Really…?”
“Yes. I’m sorry for making you worry, my princess.”
Heena used to spread her arms wide and hug Yohan.
“What are you thinking about?”
Seo Yohan, back in the present, snapped his fingers in front of Heena’s face. Snapping back to reality as if waking from hypnosis, Heena gulped down some cold water.
We used to fight like crazy. She didn’t say those words out loud.
✦⋆🍒.₊ ⊹
After stacking the empty dishes in the dishwasher like Tetris pieces, it was time to go home.
The day ended early in the rural village, so Heena had no choice but to go to bed early as well.
“I’ll be going now. The food was delicious.”
Yohan scratched the back of his neck and stepped out into the hallway first.
“Follow me for a second.”
Heena, bewildered, followed him. She hoped he wasn’t taking her to the beach or somewhere else again, especially since she was in her pajamas.
Contrary to her worries, Yohan led her to the backyard. It seemed he was cultivating a small garden there, as cute little signs for lettuce, green onions, and other vegetables were stuck in the ground.
That’s… kind of cute?
Just as a chuckle was about to escape her lips, Yohan, standing by the wall, barely visible in the shadows, gestured to her.
“Here, not there.”
Heena rolled her eyes. The night was deep, and the darkness was thick. She wondered if she was being haunted by a ghost. A familiar person beckoning in the dark. Wasn’t that a common horror movie cliché?
“What are you doing? Come quickly.”
His annoyed urging confirmed that it was indeed Seo Yohan. As she hesitantly approached him, she saw a small side gate in the wall.
“There was something like this here…?”
“My grandfather used to go through here too.”
“Ah….”
The side gate was just big enough for one person to pass through, and Seo Yohan had to bend down to go through it.
As Yohan opened the side gate, a creaking sound of twisting wood echoed.
A dark corner of the wall with no moonlight, a silence deep enough to hear each other’s breaths, a gate connecting their two houses with a single step.
“Use this from now on. Don’t bother ringing the doorbell.”
Heena nodded slightly. As she was about to go through the side gate, she felt a hand gently grasp her wrist.
“…Are you going?”
Looking up at Yohan, Heena could only part her lips, unable to speak. Her heart was pounding strangely. Just like when she had her first kiss with Seo Yohan.
Yohan’s eyes were moist. They glistened even in the darkness. Heena swallowed hard and finally uttered words different from the ones she had been rehearsing.
“I have to go.”
“Wait a moment.”
Yohan pulled Heena’s wrist and wrapped it around his waist.
This was a dangerous moment.
“We’re going to have breakfast together tomorrow anyway, so do you really have to go? I’m bored.”
Just a moment ago, while eating, she had been recalling their break-up. They had finally broken free from that difficult and persistent relationship, and there was no way they could start over. Repeating the cycle would only make things difficult for both of them.
But she couldn’t ignore Yohan’s face, tilting closer and closer.
No, no, no, absolutely not… what do you mean not? Yes. Why not, when their lips have already met countless times?
Heena, as if by habit, slightly parted her lips and savored the sensation of Yohan’s lips pressing against hers. His soft lips sucked on hers endlessly. Then, his tongue carefully parted her lips and wrapped around hers.
A tingling sensation ran down her spine. Tension coiled in her lower abdomen, and she stood on tiptoe, wrapping her arms around his neck.
The deepening kiss, their heads tilting, was familiar. This position, this touch, this thrill. Everything felt like it had returned to before they broke up.
Yohan smiled faintly, their lips still touching. And what he said next was outrageous.
“You’ve become even more delicious since I last saw you.”
