Chapter 29

“Where’s your house, noona?”

“Over there.”

Heena pointed to her grandfather’s house on the steep hill. Next to it was Yohan’s house, brightly lit.

“They’re really close together.”

“Hm?”

“The house next door, I mean.”

“Ohh…. Yeah. They are.”

“Who lives next door?”

At that question, she gulped down a dry throat. How should she explain Seo Yohan? After pondering for a long while, she finally managed an answer.

“Someone in a similar situation as me?”

Dongha raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.

“What’s that?”

“Just know that there’s someone like that. It’s complicated to explain. You’ll probably meet him tomorrow anyway.”

“…Somehow I feel like it’s someone you’re close with, noona.”

He was a person who couldn’t be described by the word “close.” It was something beyond that, something more tenacious and secret, yet also like more of a stranger than a stranger.

“I’m going to get close with you too, noona.”

While she was deep in thought about her relationship with Seo Yohan, Son Dongha grinned and leaned his head in close. The faint scent of cigarettes wafted over.

Noona…. It was a title she hadn’t heard in a truly long time. When Seo Yohan was young, he used to call her that and follow her around everywhere.

“Noona, who are you closest with?”

“Noona, where did you go? I was looking all over for you. From now on, stay right next to me. Got it?”

“I like you the best, noona.”

However, as Yohan went through puberty, his tone and nuance had changed slightly.

“Grandpa’s looking for you, noona.”

“Noona, where are you scurrying around to again?”

“Tell me if you’re sick. I brought the medicine you need, noona.”

Although he called her noona, it felt like he was only doing it because he had no other title to use. Around that time, he had shot up in height and his voice had become low and deep, so she would sometimes be startled whenever he called her noona.

“What are you thinking about?”

Son Dongha waved a hand in front of Heena’s face, waking her from her reverie. Heena blinked her large eyes and pushed away the useless thoughts.

“I was just spacing out for a second. Shouldn’t you head in early? You have a tough day of farm experience starting tomorrow.”

“Are you going to be with us from tomorrow morning too, noona?”

“Yes. And….”

Heena stretched out her arm and pointed to the brightly lit house next to hers.

“He will be too.”

Narrowing his eyes, Son Dongha pressed his lips together and then parted them with a sucking sound.

“It’s a guy, right?”

“How did you know?”

“I have a bad feeling.”

“Just from looking at that house?”

“Yes. It’s a feeling like we won’t get along, but at the same time, we’ll somehow get along well.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

A soft laugh escaped her unknowingly. Not getting along, but getting along well. The way he spoke in utter riddles reminded her of Seo Yohan.

Anyway, I wonder what he’s doing by himself right now. Is he bored? I should go and keep him company.

“I should get going now. See you tomorrow, Dongha-ya.”

As she turned to leave, something brushed against her fingertips.

“Noona.”

Son Dongha was lightly holding Heena’s index finger.

“See you tomorrow.”

The corners of Heena’s mouth twitched upwards. Unable to hold it in, she let out a poof of laughter. It was a catchphrase from a dating reality show that Seo Yohan used to enjoy watching. Son Dongha, who seemed to have said it lightly for that effect, smiled brightly and let go of her fingertips.

✦⋆🍒.₊ ⊹

“You weren’t waiting for me, were you?”

Ever since she started climbing the steep slope, she could see Seo Yohan standing in front of the gate, pacing. Heena ran the rest of the way in a dash and jumped up, wrapping her arms around his neck. Yohan readily bent down for her.

“Why would I do something like that?”

“What’s wrong with it? You can come out if you’re worried.”

“I’m not worried at all. You’ll handle yourself just fine, no, you have to.”

Not worried? I have to handle myself? Hearing such words from the one whose attention and concern she used to receive in full made her realize that they had truly become strangers. Heena released her arms from around his neck.

“But wait a minute.”

As she tried to pass him and go inside, Yohan grabbed her wrist. He then pulled her sharply, and the distance between their faces closed.

“Why do you smell like cigarettes?”

Yohan buried his nose near Heena’s ear and neck, sniffing. Every time the tip of his nose brushed against her, Heena’s body flinched.

“Don’t tell me… you still do?”

There was a time when she was attached to her e-cigarette like it was an oxygen mask. It was when she was under extreme stress and on the verge of dying from overwork; a friend she shared a studio with had recommended she try it, and she had gotten a taste for it.

It was only a matter of time before Seo Yohan, with his keenly developed senses, found out. The moment she ran into Yohan, who had come to pick her up from the studio, he asked what that smell was and rummaged through her pockets.

“What is this.”

“Lip balm…?”

“Try fooling someone you can actually fool.”

She had been scolded like a minor caught smoking by their parents. He had asked why she would touch something so utterly harmful, where she had learned it, and said he needed to have a word with her friend. The blame was about to shift, so Heena had to cling to his arm and beg, promising she would never smoke again.

“I didn’t smoke it!”

It was the truth. She had never even put a conventional cigarette to her lips. When Heena retorted defensively, Yohan’s suspicious gaze swept over her expression.

“I really didn’t.”

“Then who did?”

“One of the students who was there. Wait a minute, why am I even like this? Even if I had smoked, it’s not something for you to scold me about.”

“Who said I was scolding you? You’re the one getting defensive because you feel guilty.”

“You were the one who interrogated me relentlessly first.”

“How is asking if you still haven’t quit an interrogation?”

“……”

“And so what if I do interrogate you? I don’t like people who come in and out of my house smelling like cigarettes.”

For some reason, the phrase ‘people who come in and out of my house’ caught in her throat. They were once a couple who, cutting through all the crap, could be defined as ‘my person.’ Now that a line had been drawn like this, she was at a loss for words.

“…I can just wash up and go to bed.”

“The stench of cigarettes doesn’t come out easily. Don’t hang out with kids who smoke from now on.”

“It’s only for four days anyway. Now there are only three days left. You can’t even put up with that much?”

“Do I have an obligation to put up with it?”

He didn’t. But by the same token, Heena didn’t need to distance herself from people who smoked because of him, either.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Heena stated her position firmly as well.

“You’re not my boyfriend anymore.”

“……”

Yohan must have been quite shocked too. Heena took advantage of the moment he opened and closed his lips to step inside the house.

Normally, she would have been thrilled to have gotten the last word in an argument, but she didn’t feel refreshed at all.

✦⋆🍒.₊ ⊹

Spring, when all things revive and all living creatures are filled with vitality. Spring, when winter passes and the weather thaws, and people’s clothing becomes lighter. Spring, when the green lawns, as if awakened from hibernation, are filled with people having chimaek and pimaek, and the streets are bustling with people out to see the flowers.

Yohan hated that kind of spring.

He liked the snow falling softly on a quiet world, as if everyone were asleep, and he liked the moment he pulled his collar tight to block the wind that clawed at his cheeks.

He disliked how, when the winter he had poured his heart into passed and spring arrived, everyone except him seemed to be completely excited. He felt sorry for the flowers that would wither in a mere gust of wind, and looking at the fallen petals on the ground made the people of the world seem heartless.

Especially now, he felt like he could die from the sight of the two people right in front of his eyes.

“This is some pretty hard labor.”

“It’s not ‘pretty hard,’ it’s just plain hard labor, noona.”

“Do your hard labor properly, Dongha-ya. I’m helping you guys out with a willing heart, so I’m just going to do it half-heartedly.”

“What do you mean, half-heartedly? You can’t do that. I’m going to tell the village chief on you.”

“I’m closer to the village chief than you are.”

“What about with me?”

Jeong Heena and the guy who was the student representative were giggling as they pulled out strawberry roots and shook off the dirt.

Everyone else is struggling, dripping with sweat, trying to pull out just one more root, and you have the nerve to laugh right now?

Yohan wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and glared at them out of the corner of his eye. It was infuriating. How dare they laugh and chatter so loudly in the sacred strawberry harvesting experience farm.

“Oppa, could you help us move this?”

In an instant, Yohan tore his gaze away from them and shifted his attention to the female students who were asking for help.

“What. This?”

It was the task of moving bags of soil into a wheelbarrow, which required a considerable amount of strength. Yohan rolled up his sleeves and hoisted the bags one by one into the wheelbarrow.

“Seo Yohan! Come move the bags over here, too!”

Heena raised her hand high and pointed to the bag of soil next to her. Yohan pretended not to see or hear her and pulled the wheelbarrow to a spot far away from Heena and the guy who was the student representative.