DI Ch 126

“Would you like an Americano?”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Alright. I’ll get you something warm then.”

“No, I…”

Min Jeong-oh used to accept drinks easily, but ever since he caught me drinking, he doesn’t want to drink even a single drink. Was it because he also felt betrayed by me? Cold, so cold.

“Huh?”

When I turned my head to a short exclamation, there was Kim Young-ji. It may be Woo Ji-min’s cafe where he works part-time far away from school, but this is near the school. Even though it was outside of school, I didn’t think it would be strange if we ran into each other by chance, so I started talking to him casually.

“Are you going to school?”

“Ah. No. To a café. I have some studying to do.”

I noticed the poster in her arms. It seemed like she was preparing for a contest. She also told me about the strange rumor going around, and I thought I should at least buy her a cup of coffee in return.

“Wanna go in together? I’ll buy.”

Kim Young-ji turned her head along my fingertips. Eventually, she pulled the file tighter against her chest and shook her head.

“No. Seeing each other after a fight might be awkward. I’ll go to a different café.”

Fight? I slowly bent my fingers.

“This is the cafe where Jin Do-kyung works part-time. You don’t know?”

I’ve heard that name somewhere before. I felt strange, thinking I might have missed something again. As I hesitated to answer, Kim Young-ji’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“The student representative, Jin Do-kyung. Do-kyung. The kid who sits next to you every time you drink and regularly buys you hangover remedies. Do you remember when you bought us coffee here?”

“Oh, I remember. I remember.”

It’s not a feeling of déjà vu, I just forgot. Although I hastily responded, her eyes still held a hint of doubt. It was embarrassing that I couldn’t remember his name, but Kim Young-ji shrugged and spoke up.

“Never mind. You might not know. Anyway, I’m leaving now.”

“Are you leaving?”

Wasn’t she close with the student rep? I thought it was strange that she was leaving without saying hello, but Kim Young-ji chuckled.

“What’s the point of pretending to be closer than we are? It’s pointless.”

“Huh?”

“No, I just don’t want to see his face, so don’t worry about it.”

It was none of my business, but it bothered me as I scratched my cheek and watched her retreating figure. When I entered the cafe, the place was full, but I saw a part-time worker fiddling with his cell phone as there was no line or menu to order. It was the student rep, no, I mean Jin Do-kyung. The café was so noisy that he didn’t hear customers entering, so I called out his name and tapped the counter to get his attention.

“Jin Do-kyung.”

We made eye contact, but there was no reaction. I looked behind me to see if there was anything in my frozen manner, but I was the only customer ordering and everyone else was just sitting there. Then why are you like that?

“…Um, hi.”

“Oh, hi.”

“Can I get two warm Americano takeaways?”

“Oh, um, yeah, coffee. Warm coffee. Sure. It’s done!”

The student rep, whose face turned bright red in a short time, finally spoke up belatedly and hastily asked me to wait a moment with an exaggerated gesture before hurrying off.

“Are you here to study? Ah, you ordered takeaways. Is it because there are too many people here? Haha. There usually aren’t this many people. It’s crowded today for some reason.”

Unlike the student rep, who seemed rushed even though no one was chasing after him, the coffee machine moved leisurely. The silence felt awkward, so the student rep kept babbling endlessly. He kept talking to himself before I could react, so I just nodded. the student rep suddenly apologized.

“Hey, I’m sorry.”

“What? Can’t you make the coffee?”

“Huh? Oh, no, no. I wasn’t talking about the coffee… I was a bit… sensitive earlier, wasn’t I? I was too anxious at that time, so I became irritable. I didn’t mean to be that way towards you, but I guess I lost it for a moment back then. …I’m really sorry. I was too focused on my emotions and didn’t have the opportunity to look around. It may sound like an excuse, but I actually wanted to tell you earlier. I’m sorry? But really… I just… didn’t have the courage. But thank you for coming to find me. Thanks to you, I found the courage.”

“…”

I blinked my eyes as I watched the student rep apologizing hesitantly without even meeting my eyes. What did that mean… Was he implying that he wouldn’t have apologized if I hadn’t come by chance? The bad feeling I had at that time was only for a moment and honestly, I had forgotten what happened at the time, so I just nodded as if that was it. the student rep seemed to place more importance on the fact that he had apologized rather than me accepting his apology, so I didn’t bother saying it was okay.

“That… Is one of the drinks for Woo Ji-min Sunbae?”

“What? No.”

Why would Woo Ji-min be here? I wondered, but seeing the student rep’s overly relieved expression made me wonder if he was worried about rumors regarding his senior. Suddenly, the lyrics of a song that resonated inside the cafe caught my ear.

“If it’s okay to ask, who is the drink for…”

“The song’s a bit…”

As soon as he opened his mouth to ask, our voices overlapped. After briefly scanning the surroundings, I lowered my head slightly and whispered softly.

“Isn’t it a bit inappropriate?”

No one seemed to have noticed yet, but the song was too provocative for broad daylight, especially for a café. I lowered my voice even further in fear that other guests would notice that the lyrics were provocative in contrast to the atmospheric tune.

“Listen. The lyrics.”

“…”

The student rep seemed to have noticed as well as he clenched his fists and his reddened cheeks blushed even more. I also focused on the song again. At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary love confession, but the actual lyrics were, ‘As soon as I put my head between your legs, your lips swell.’ My face flushed with embarrassment as I heard the explicit and vulgar lyrics.

“L-Let’s play a different song.”

“I think that would be a good idea. There are kids around.”

Even though the little kid wouldn’t understand, it’s better not to take any risks. Soon the lyrics of the song changed from ‘I’m going to get wet too’ to ‘Love is neither sweet nor pink.’ I was relieved that the song had returned to a more innocent theme of unrequited love. I chuckled awkwardly, feeling a mixture of amusement and embarrassment as I met the student rep’s eyes.

After awkwardly hesitating for a moment, I pointed to behind his back.

“I think it’s done.”

The student rep hastily handed over the coffee. I was very surprised and he didn’t seem to have any intention of asking me to pay, so I held out my card first, but the student rep waved his hand away.

“I’ll pay. After all, I was the one who invited you.”

“Huh?”

“Next time, I’ll call you when no one is around.”

“Uh… okay.”

I felt like I kept missing out on conversations with people like Lee Hyun-wook lately. It wasn’t just one or two people, and it was starting to affect my mood.

“Can I ask who you are with?”

“Just someone I know.”

As I was about to leave, the student rep came out from behind the counter and approached me. Oh, he must be holding the door open because he has coffee in both hands. The moment I turned around and looked ahead, I saw Tae Seong-je through the glass window. He was putting his hands in his coat pockets with an indifferent expression, but as soon as our eyes met, he smiled. I couldn’t hide the smile that spread across my face, and the corners of my mouth curved up.

“See you later.”

“You too…”

In my impatience, I couldn’t even wait for him to open the door and pushed my way out of the café.

“Hyung!”

I took a step closer with a welcoming smile, but then I felt a sudden coldness as his hand grabbed my shoulder. At the same time, the cold hand touching my ear made my shoulders shiver. He said that the coffee was spilling, but there was a hint of laughter in his voice, so I didn’t pay much attention.

“I came right on time.”

“Yeah. Oh, your hands are cold, hyung. Warm them up with this.”

I handed the coffee to someone who probably wouldn’t even drink it, and although I intended to give the remaining one to Min Jeong-oh, Tae Seong-je said he had worked hard and told him to go home, so I ended up drinking both cups. Feeling resigned, I sipped the coffee and got into his car.

We thought about leaving after lunch, but neither of us was particularly hungry, so we decided to eat when we arrived. As I held my cell phone next to the driver, I searched for a good restaurant, chatted, and looked outside, so we arrived quickly.

It had only been a year, and I had spent six months of that in the hospital, so I hadn’t wandered around except for school and home, making the streets unfamiliar. It felt more convincing to think we had come to Tae Seong-je’s hometown.

This was partly his fault for driving so naturally, even though I hadn’t even mentioned the address. He didn’t hesitate on the somewhat uncertain route, nor did he hesitate to look at the map. As we entered a memorable area, I found myself nervous without realizing it.

“Uh, aren’t you a little hungry?”

“Shall we eat here before we go?”

My shoulders eased from the tension of the unfamiliar neighborhood. During the meal, I belatedly felt a sense of self-disgust. Did we really come all the way here just to have sex? Ridiculous.

When I saw that apartment, I really wondered what I was doing. How embarrassing it was that I had come to pick up a school uniform for a costume because my lover, who was eight years older than me, didn’t seem interested in sex at all.

I didn’t know what Tae Seong-je was thinking when he followed me. No, I just wish he hadn’t been thinking anything. I didn’t want him to be curious at all about why I came here.

“I’ll be back in a minute. Just wait for a moment.”

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

When I said I’d quickly go and come back, he looked incredulous and reached out to roughly ruffle my hair.

“You might hurt yourself. Take your time.”

“Then five minutes.”

I kissed his cheek and quickly unbuckled my seatbelt. As soon as I came out, even though no one was chasing me, I walked quickly to the common entrance, opened the door, and pressed the elevator button twice in a row. My heart was pounding with anxiety. Oh, this feels familiar. When was the last time I felt anxious like this?

I tilted my head and rolled my head, but somehow nothing came to mind. My attention was focused on one side, and without any specific thoughts, I absentmindedly opened the door, and the first thing I saw was the bright living room. I had a feeling something was wrong, but it was too late after I opened the door. This world clearly hated me.

“…”

“…”

I made eye contact with a girl I had never seen before. This is Seo Seung-won’s house. Did they move? Without saying anything? No, the passcode is still the same. As we both stood there in surprise, someone suddenly jumped out in front of the dumbfounded girl.

“Hyung?”