HWAMB — Chapter 50

10. Jealousy (1)

At my words, Hyun-woo tilted his head slightly.

“…Was there such a thing?”

“……”

“What is it?”

Without answering, I kissed Hyun-woo, who looked like he genuinely didn’t understand.

Tap.

At the same time our lips met, the sparkler in Hyun-woo’s hand went out.

Suddenly, his words from the hospital came to mind—when he asked if I had never tried a deep kiss before.

I tried swirling my tongue around just like he had done back then, but it didn’t work out as smoothly as I thought.

When I pushed my tongue in on my own, Hyun-woo’s shoulders gave a small jolt.

‘I thought this was how he did it that time…’

Like a dog timidly licking its owner, I was only fumbling about, then curiosity about his reaction made me open my eyes.

Hyun-woo’s eyes were wide open, staring right at me. It seemed he had been doing that the whole time we were kissing.

Startled, I quickly pulled my lips away. I thought he might at least show some sign of embarrassment from that shoulder flinch, but no such luck.

He was just frozen in place like a statue, blinking blankly.

“……”

Not even breathing, he looked like a paused screen on a monitor.

Wait… Now that I looked, this wasn’t indifference at all…

I quickly shook his shoulders in a panic.

“Hyun-woo! Hey, Shim Hyun-woo! Breathe, breathe!”

Finally, Hyun-woo gasped for air. Then he grabbed my shoulders tightly and shouted.

“You…! Y-y-you! Why did you suddenly kiss me…!”

Disjointed words tumbled out of his mouth in a rush. I expected him to just smirk like always, but his face was bright red and he looked genuinely flustered.

‘Oh.’

Had he ever been this shaken before? Maybe once or twice, but not since we started dating.

Feeling a bit indignant, I muttered at him.

“I told you I had something to get.”

“…That’s a kiss?”

“Of course.”

“……”

“…You did it first earlier.”

At my words, Hyun-woo frowned, his face full of genuine confusion.

With no choice, I went back inside the villa and returned with a large glass.

Lemonade, just like we had during the day, in the same glass cup.

I slurped it noisily through the straw in front of him.

“…Ah, damn.”

Hyun-woo, who had been staring in a daze, covered his face with his hands and muttered. Because of his lowered head, I could clearly see the round crown of his head.

As if realizing my intention, he peeked up at me once before quickly lowering his head again, curling his body up. His ears were blazing red, as if they might burst.

“Seriously… You’re terrible at it.”

A sharp sweetness stung my nose.

Ah.

It was Hyun-woo’s pheromones.

Like a puppy wagging its tail wildly, unable to hide his true feelings.

“Spilling pheromones like that, and then saying something like that doesn’t make it convincing at all.”

“You’re getting cheeky again.”

Hyun-woo growled low in warning, struggling on his own as if to calm his pheromones.

Maybe because I was affected by them too—

“Khmm, khem…”

I also felt strange.

‘What the hell? He always kisses me whenever he wants, so why does he turn into a total novice when I do it?’

While I grumbled at him in displeasure, Hyun-woo sighed and lit a new sparkler for me.

Crackle, crackle.

Sparks flew here and there.

“Then teach me.”

“Teach you what?”

“…That. Deep kiss.”

“…I’m not teaching you.”

Hyun-woo turned his head sharply and lit his own sparkler. At his firm refusal, I snapped back.

“Hey! Why! You said I was bad at it!”

“…I’m never teaching you.”

“……”

Fine, whatever. What’s so hard about teaching that one thing that he keeps holding out on me?

‘It’s not like I don’t have other ways to find out.’

We lived in the age of the internet, after all.

Maybe because I acted sulky, Hyun-woo glanced at me a few times.

When I didn’t even spare him a glance, he scratched the back of his head awkwardly and muttered.

“…Later.”

“…?”

“…I’ll properly teach you later.”

“……”

“Somewhere with a better mood… and… well. A prettier place…”

I stared at Hyun-woo, eyes wide. Then, at his words of “Wait until then,” I found myself answering, “F-fine, whatever…” as I turned my head away.

What was that just now? What did I just hear…?

‘A better mood… a prettier place…’

A deep kiss.

I stopped my thoughts there and shook my head violently.

‘Who the hell cares about that kind of thing!’

No, more than that, my heart was going crazy. The moment I registered Hyun-woo’s words, it pounded like I had sprinted a 100m dash.

Heat belatedly rushed to my face. Neither Hyun-woo nor I could bring ourselves to look at each other.

We always ended up blushing over the strangest things.

* * *

The summer filled with fresh green leaves, the summer vacation of my eighteenth year, ended just like that.

‘Time really flies….’

After we came back from the trip, Hyun-woo heard about my part-time job. When he found out later and I told him I had decided not to keep working, he was overjoyed.

‘Of course, he didn’t show it outwardly at all….’

Even when the new semester started, we stuck together just like always.

It was nice seeing my friends’ faces again after the opening ceremony, but the aftereffects of summer break still lingered heavily.

It made my heart float even more than spring drowsiness ever could.

“Hey, Kang Eun-jae. Your leg okay?”

“Of course. It’s all healed now.”

“Wow. You’re like a mutt, huh? Your recovery rate is insane.”

Seo Young-ho laughed heartily beside me, throwing his arm around my shoulder.

Since then, I hadn’t seen Jang Jae-ho. I didn’t even know what happened to him.

I remembered what Hyun-woo’s uncle had said in the hospital room.

‘Honestly, I don’t even want to know anymore.’

Even now, when I thought about what happened with Jang Jae-ho, a sharp pain shot through my head like a migraine.

At the hospital, they said it was probably post-traumatic stress, and if the headaches continued, I should definitely come back.

‘This will probably get better with time….’

I should stop caring about that bastard altogether.

‘It’s a waste of time.’

Just being happy and thinking about better things already left me with too little time. I had no space to let myself get depressed over something like that.

With that determination, I pressed hard against the space between my brows, when I suddenly heard Sang-su calling from beside me.

“Hey, Eun-jae.”

“Hm? What?”

As I lifted my head, I saw countless black wires connecting to the monitor in front of me.

And a white cable tie was neatly bundling the tangled cords together.

A cable tie.

‘Ah.’

My stomach flipped like I was about to throw up. My ankle, the one that had been bruised, began to ache and throb.

It was strange.

That injury had already healed completely.

My mind went blank, a cold sweat breaking out.

“Hey. You listening?”

Sang-su’s voice pulled me back. My trembling eyes must have been obvious, because Sang-su, Young-ho, and Seong-han were all staring at me strangely.

Forcing a smile, I quickly apologized.

“Oh? Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said let’s go eat tteokbokki together later. It’s been a while.”

“Ah, sounds great. I’m in.”

“…Are you really okay?”

Frowning, Sang-su asked again. I hurriedly nodded and brushed it off with a vague answer.

Then, jumping up from my seat, I startled Joo Seong-han, who asked me in surprise.

“What? Where are you going? Class is about to start.”

“Bathroom!”

I spat out the answer and rushed out of the classroom.

It felt like I had just ridden a rollercoaster eight times in a row—my stomach was churning.

“Urgh…”

I ran into the farthest stall in the empty bathroom, locked the door, and grabbed the toilet, throwing everything up.

I thought it was nothing, but my body, my memory—it wasn’t.

Though the vomiting ended quickly, it took a long time to calm my wrecked insides. My fingertips were icy cold, trembling.

‘Fuck….’