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I didn't know that even though Yu-ri was so drunk, she still remembered everything that had happened. Although I was surprised, I still wasn't embarrassed. As for Lee Yu-ri, I guess she has already crossed over 90% of the way to me, and there is only one final step left to make her my woman. So she confessed openly.
She was said to be a girl who was good at being in relationships, and Han Seong-jin was a guy who was good at being in relationships, but Lee Yu-ri was too far from being a good person in a relationship, so she needed to follow the old, traditional ways. At my confession, Lee Yu-ri's face turned the brightest it had ever been. She was so embarrassed that her eyes couldn't stay in place for a moment, and she couldn't say anything, as if she had become mute.
I wanted to hear an answer to Yu-ri Lee's feelings right away, but a girl like Yu-ri needs time. And there is one more thing to work on.
"I… I, I… I…"
"Isn't it difficult for you to say yes or no right now?"
Yu-ri slowly nodded her head.
"There's no need to try to answer me now. You would have originally hated people like me, but now you can't make a decision all of a sudden."
She nodded.
"If I stay next to you for no reason, you'll become more conscious and confused, so should we stop today's date? It's almost time for me to go as well."
She nodded.
"I don't mind waiting, so I promise to wait for your answer whenever you make up your mind. As soon as possible. Okay?"
She nodded. It felt like dealing with a deaf person.
"Then shall we go? Oh, now that I think about it, I think you remember everything that happened last week, right?"
She nodded.
"Then you remember how we got home that day, right?"
"…"
This time, he lowered his head and nodded much too late.
"Then can I consider this as permission?"
While saying that, I clasped Yu-ri's hand. One of the most basic postures for couples to express their affection for each other. Yu-ri Lee was startled and flinched, but instead of pushing me away, she calmly relaxed my grip. He still didn't say a word and didn't even make eye contact out of shame, but it was a tacit permission. She, sober and sober, accepted me clasping hands with her like a couple.
With one hand, I held hands with Yu-ri Lee, and with the other, I picked up the tray with our empty coffee cups on it and went to put them where the drinks were dispensed. And while walking, Gong Young-bae and Choi Soo-yeon made eye contact, albeit for a brief moment.
The Beginning of the End
Gong Young-bae, who was on a date with Choi Soo-yeon, felt like his heart was sinking. No matter how he looked at him, the familiar face with dyed blonde hair, tall stature, and bulky body was Han Seong-jin. Fortunately, the other person didn't seem to recognize him and quickly turned his gaze elsewhere.
However, when Gong Young-bae saw the woman standing next to him, his heart began to beat so hard that it felt like it was going to explode. Long, shiny black hair, a very voluminous body even for a 20-year-old, and even moles under the eyes.
'Yu-ri…? Yu-ri Lee?'
It was Lee Yu-ri, a childhood friend whom I had known for over 10 years since I was young. The sight of her with Han Seong-jin was frighteningly familiar to me now. However, there was something that I just couldn't ignore…
'Why… Why are you holding hands?'
Han Seong-jin and Yu-ri Lee were holding each other's hands tightly. And not just holding hands, but clasping hands like a couple in love. Even though the two people were crossing their fingers, Yu-ri Lee did not shake off the hand, but instead blushed and accepted Han Seong-jin's hand with great embarrassment.
Gong Young-bae felt like cognitive dissonance was coming. Soo-yeon Choi was saying something next to her, but she couldn't hear anything.
'A guy like Han Seong-jin… I heard you hate an Iljin guy like that the most in the world… But why are you doing that there? Why is he holding hands like a couple? Why are you making such an embarrassed expression instead of getting angry?'
Gong Young-bae felt like he was going out of his mind with anger and jealousy. Han Seong-jin and Yu-ri Lee walked out of the café, still holding hands like a couple, and after a brief conversation, Han Seong-jin left first.
…
Meanwhile, Choi Soo-yeon almost screamed in joy the moment her eyes met Han Seong-jin's. It was a matter of whether the other person saw him or not, but it didn't really matter. The important thing is that Han Seong-jin and Yu-ri Lee were so close that they almost looked like a couple.
After Yu-ri Lee completely goes to Han Seong-jin, the seat next to Gong Young-bae becomes virtually empty, and she thought she could fill it.
'Seong-jin, nice! Cheer up more!'
The two couples left the café while they secretly cheered for Han Seong-jin's love for their own. And after a while, Gong Young-bae stood up.
"Soo-yeon, I'm going to go to the bathroom for a moment."
"Yes~"
Gong Young-bae walked out through the entrance of her café, holding her umbrella, and Choi Soo-yeon hummed as she looked around at the photos she had taken today. Then she realized that she also wanted to go to the bathroom, so she approached the café worker and asked.
"Hey, where can I go to the bathroom here?"
"Go to the door inside the building over there in the bathroom and turn right."
"Thank you… Um?"
Choi Soo-yeon, feeling something strange about her, tilted her head.
"The bathroom is inside the building… Why did you go out the door over there?"
An unknown anxiety slowly grew in Choi Soo-yeon's mind.
…
After Han Seong-jin left, Yu-ri Lee felt like the warm feel of his hand still remained on her hand. Last week, I was so drunk that I couldn't even feel anything, but the man's hand I held for the first time was much bigger and warmer than I thought.
'He really likes me…'
Even while Yu-ri Lee felt confused, her heart continued to pound when she thought of Han Seong-jin's confession. If you divide it into likes and dislikes, it feels much closer to likes.
'Gosh, are we really dating like this…? But it doesn't change the fact that he's part of Iljin… I definitely hate kids like that… Why am I so happy?'
After standing in place for a long time, barely able to calm herself down while holding on to her trembling heart, Yu-ri Lee opened her umbrella and headed out into the rain, pondering the answer to Han Seong-jin's confession. However, less than a minute after she started walking, someone stopped her from behind.
"Yu-ri!"
At first, she was excited for a moment because she thought it was Han Seong-jin, but soon Yu-ri Lee's heart cooled down. The voice that called her was a bit higher and thinner than Han Seong-jin's. And it was a voice I had known for a long time before Han Seong-jin's deep, deep voice. When Yu-ri Lee looked behind her, her face changed from that of a girl who was excited by her first visit to a cold and cold face.
"Why are you here?"
"Wait… Talk to me for a moment."
"I have nothing to say to you."
Yu-ri Lee could not possibly forgive Gong Young-bae. Because Gong Young-bae's words of treating her like a cheap woman who was being flirtatious with Han Seong-jin just because she had a few words with him were still stuck in her heart.
"I just saw it all. Are you… Dating that bastard Han Seong-jin?"
"You… Were you really stalking me?"
Yu-ri Lee asked back with an expression of disbelief. If that were the case, she did not intend to treat Gong Young-bae as a human being at all.
"No! I saw it while I was on a 'café date' with Soo-yeon!"
Gong Young-bae put extra emphasis on the phrase 'café date' with the intention of arousing Yu-ri Lee's jealousy, but her expression did not change at all.
"Soo-yeon? Ah, that second-grader you used to visit often? She came on a date? Congratulations."
"Huh…?"
Gong Young-bae was completely dumbfounded by Yu-ri Lee's words, as she calmly congratulated him without being angry or jealous.
"Why are you so surprised? Since you're the girl who's been hitting on Han Seong-jin, I immediately congratulate you on finding a new woman."
"You… Are you really saying that because of that… That's why you're doing this to Han Seong-jin? They even hugged each other like a couple? She told me to fuck you just because I said that one thing?"
"Ha."
Yu-ri snorted as if she was shocked.
"If anyone hears it, they'll think I'm hanging out with Han Seong-jin just to watch over you, right?"
"Then isn't it?"
"Don't be mistaken. You have nothing to do with it. No, maybe it has something to do with it? Because you treated me like that that day, I ended up letting go of all my feelings for you and started hanging out with Han Seong-jin?"
"You… Are you still saying what I said was wrong? Even after seeing what you're doing with Han Seong-jin?"
"That's wrong. It's not because I taunted Han Seong-jin first that you said such harsh things to me, but because you said those words, I went to Han Seong-jin."
And Yu-ri Lee made a bombshell that tore Gong Young-bae's heart to pieces.
"I was confessed to by Han Seong-jin."
"What… What…?"
"He says he likes me. Han Seong-jin."
"W-what… Of course, you refused, right?"
"…"
"Lying… Yes! You're lying! Are you lying to make me jealous?! Are you doing that to me just like I did last week and then intentionally sticking around with Soo-yeon?!"
"…Are you deliberately sticking around with her to make me jealous? Are you really the worst?"
"What kind of bastard is Han Seong-jin? You know it because you heard the rumors! He goes around messing with any girl he likes, and since he was in first grade… No, the rumor is that he's never stopped drinking, smoking, or even riding a motorcycle since he was in middle school! How many kids were ripped off by that bastard's gang?"
"Maybe he was like that in the past. He even acknowledged that. But… He's changed."
"What…?"
Gong Young-bae was having a hard time breathing now. Even though she said this, Yu-ri Lee was defending Han Seong-jin.
"Ever since the semester started, he has never hung out with his group. He is now working a part-time job to make money, and even though he has less than 80,000 won left for living expenses, he refuses to help with tuition, saying he has to take care of it himself. Furthermore, he quit smoking and drinking. Right now, I'm trying to live a normal life somehow."
"You… Why do you protect a child like that…"
"And most of all, he really cared for me."
"..? What does that mean?"
"You and I have known each other for over 10 years, but if you think about it, have you ever done anything for me first? On Valentine's Day, I always made chocolate first, and you bought it from the convenience store. I've made lunch boxes for you, but I've never eaten the lunch box you made. At least you always left everything, right? When I ask you to go somewhere with me, you don't have any opinions, and when I was 11 and almost got bitten by a street dog, I cried, but you abandoned me and ran away first. Do you remember that time we had a fight and didn't talk for a few days? When I think about it, I was a fool for sticking around because I liked you."
"I'm sorry, Yu-ri. I'll apologize for what happened then—"
"Han Seong-jin took me to arcades, escape room cafés, and all sorts of places to entertain me even though he himself had no money. Instead of running away like you, he protected me from the front, and unlike you, he didn't say a single word that hurt me and comforted me while thinking about what I would think and how I would feel after being hurt by you. Things I've never received from you."
After pouring out all her words, Yu-ri Lee sighed, not sure if she was controlling her anger or shaking off the last of her emotions.
"Let's just get it over with."
"!!!!!"
We have been living with each other for more than 10 years. When the words to end the relationship came out of Yu-ri Lee's mouth, Gong Young-bae's eyes filled with tears.
"No, this is also a strange thing to say. I never even started. What happens to me or not with Han Seong-jin is none of your business. So from now on, don't suddenly show up like this and act like it's natural or like you left something to me."
Leaving only those words, Yu-ri Lee walked further and further away, holding her umbrella.
"Yu-ri! Yu-ri!!"
Gong Young-bae called desperately, but she didn't even look back and soon disappeared into the crowd of people. Gong Young-bae, who had been standing there for a long time just listening to the sound of the rain, forced back tears and returned to her café in a dizzy state.
'It's okay, it's okay… Soo-yeon is there… Eun-ji is there…'
When Gong Young-bae entered the café, he suddenly felt strange. Choi Soo-yeon, who was supposed to be there, was not there.
'Did you go to the bathroom…?'
Gong Young-bae turned on her cell phone to ask where she was. There were several messages from Choi Soo-yeon on his cell phone.
[Choi Soo-yeon]: Where did your senior go? I heard there is a bathroom here in the building.
[Choi Soo-yeon]: Senior?
[Choi Soo-yeon]: Does it take a long time? Please give me an answer.
[Choi Soo-yeon]: Sorry, senior. My body suddenly feels so good, so I'll go in first.
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