Chapter 49
As they continued their conversation, changing topics, it soon became 10 PM sharp. The time was announced by the notification sound from the Please Take Care of My X application.
At the consecutive ringing, the contestants stopped talking and checked their phones.
! You can now send your Day 7 message
Who made your heart flutter today? Express your feelings to that person through a message.
* Messages will be delivered anonymously.
“Wow, I finally get to send one of these too,” Da-bin said, waving her phone screen.
“Da-bin, this must be your first time sending a message since you just arrived today,” Seo-jung remarked.
“Yes, seeing this notification really makes me feel like I’ve entered X House,” Da-bin replied.
“Have you decided who you’re going to send a message to?” Min-wook asked eagerly, turning his body towards her.
Seemingly not bothered by Min-wook’s sparkling eyes, Da-bin nodded with a smile. “Hmm, yes. I’ve decided.”
After answering, Da-bin naturally glanced at Seo-jung sitting next to her. Sensing her gaze, Seo-jung, who had been looking at his phone, also raised his head.
Although she didn’t say anything, Da-bin’s eyes seemed to say, ‘Right, Seo-jung?’ Ki Seo-jung smiled back reassuringly.
Cha Yoon, observing the two looking intently at each other, felt his pulse quicken with anger.
Damn it, why are they making eye contact like that? He hasn’t even glanced at me once all this time. Come to think of it, aren’t I also Ki Seo-jung’s X? But why only to me…
The feeling of being discriminated against added indignation to his anger. Cha Yoon opened his tightly closed mouth.
“Hey. Stop with the useless chatter and just send your messages, will you?”
“……”
“It’s so noisy I can’t concentrate at all.”
His voice carried a sensitivity that one might expect in a study hall two weeks before the college entrance exam.
Seo-jung finally shifted his gaze from Da-bin to look at Cha Yoon. Seeing Cha Yoon alternately glaring at him and Da-bin with a rebellious expression, Seo-jung couldn’t help but feel irritated too.
He had endured when Cha Yoon had provoked him about the seven years. That was an attack directed at him. But this time was different. He couldn’t let the fallout reach Shin Da-bin, who had done nothing wrong.
Just as he was about to say that they had never sent messages in complete silence before and that Cha Yoon shouldn’t make needless complaints, Da-bin tugged at his clothes as if to stop him.
“Cha Yoon must have a lot on his mind,” she said.
“……”
“We’ll be quiet so you won’t be disturbed. Feel free to send your message.”
Da-bin smoothly diffused the situation, pretending to zip her mouth. The other residents who had been quietly assessing the situation also chimed in, saying, “Yes, let’s all zip it up!”
Although he still didn’t feel good, Seo-jung couldn’t push further when Da-bin, the person directly involved, said it was okay. He bit his lip and turned his eyes to his phone.
Thanks to Da-bin’s efforts, soon the only sound in the living room was that of screens being touched.
Although things had gone exactly as he wanted, Cha Yoon’s mood still hadn’t improved. He felt like he had lost miserably even though he had clearly won. “Damn…” he muttered to himself, irritably running his hand through his hair.
Recipient │Ki Seo-jung
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The screen showed a message window with only the recipient filled in and nothing else written yet. After seeming to think for a moment, Cha Yoon moved his fingers, and soon after, the message was sent.
***
Seo Min-ha was the first to collapse on the table. Before her head could touch the surface, Song Joo-ah quickly reached out to protect her round forehead.
“Wow, it’s already this late,” someone remarked.
“Should we start wrapping up?” Joo-ah suggested.
It was past midnight. When Song Joo-ah spoke up first, Ki Seo-jung seized the opportunity to end the drinking session. The gathering naturally concluded that way. Song Joo-ah supported Min-ha as they went to their room.
The men handled the cleanup. Cha Yoon was expressionlessly crushing cans. It looked more like he was tearing them apart.
Ki Seo-jung averted his gaze from Cha Yoon and left the area. He felt that if they confronted each other now, it would only hurt their emotions more.
As he was about to head straight to his room, Ki Seo-jung hesitated. It was a space he shared with Cha Yoon. If he entered the room now, they would soon meet again.
Seo-jung sighed and changed direction. He ended up on the second-floor terrace. Although it was just a temporary measure, he wanted to collect his thoughts somewhere without Cha Yoon, even if just for a moment.
Seo-jung settled on the terrace bench. As he looked up at the night sky, the events of the day naturally flashed through his mind like a kaleidoscope. In essence, it meant he was thinking about Cha Yoon.
He had come here to avoid Cha Yoon and collect his thoughts, yet here he was, thinking about him. Seo-jung shook his head with a self-deprecating smile.
To divert his thoughts from Cha Yoon, Seo-jung took out his phone. After fiddling with it aimlessly for a while, a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he opened the Please Take Care of My X mailbox.
Why don’t you send me a message?
Seeing you here feels strange
Your X has chosen you
Ki Seo-jung read the two messages he had received today again.
“The second message must be from Da-bin…”
Who sent the first message? Seo-jung rubbed one eyebrow with a troubled expression.
Despite being just one line, the tone was full of gruffness.
Kim Sae-young, Seo Min-ha, Song Joo-ah, Yeo Ji-yoon. He thought of the faces of the female contestants one by one, excluding Da-bin.
But no matter who he tried to attribute the message to, it didn’t fit. While he couldn’t say he knew them well, he was certain that they weren’t the type of people to send such a message.
Rather than them, it had to be someone much more childish and true to their emotions. Someone like, for example, Cha Yoon…
“Ki Seo-jung, what are you thinking…”
He suddenly came to his senses while following his unconscious thoughts. Seo-jung let out a bitter laugh. To begin with, the “Please Take Care of My X” he had appeared on was a heterosexual dating program. There was no way someone of the same gender could send such a message.
As he was rubbing his face to erase this implausible assumption, there was a click sound not far away. It was the sound of the terrace door opening. Worried it might be Cha Yoon, he quickly looked up.
“Oh, there’s already a guest here.”
The one who opened the door and came in was Shin Da-bin. Seo-jung’s tense expression relaxed. He smiled without realizing it. He was glad to see her.
“Did you come out for some fresh air?” he asked.
“Yes, and to look around the house too,” she replied.
Ki Seo-jung patted the bench next to where he was sitting. Da-bin didn’t refuse and sat down beside him.
“Have you been doing well?”
After looking around and confirming no one else was there, Da-bin whispered in informal speech as usual. Ki Seo-jung smirked at her behavior. It was a smile that implied many things.
“Why did you come so late?” Seo-jung asked in a playful tone.
Shin Da-bin laughed loudly at his tone. “You must have missed me a lot, huh?”
“Of course. I came out just to see you.”
Shin Da-bin, who had been staring intently at Ki Seo-jung, scrutinized his handsome face persistently.
“Seo-jung, you seem to have lost more weight.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and you don’t look too good either.”
“……”
“Did something happen before I came?”
Despite Shin Da-bin’s concerned gaze examining his face, Seo-jung couldn’t say anything. After watching the quiet Seo-jung for a while, Shin Da-bin carefully began to speak.
“Actually, I was really surprised to see Cha Yoon here.”
“…Ah.”
“You didn’t know Cha Yoon would be here either?”
“No.”
Seo-jung nodded. If he had known Cha Yoon would be here, he wouldn’t have come out even at Da-bin’s request. Da-bin nodded, saying “I see” at his calm tone.
“Cha Yoon, he’s exactly the same as when he first joined the club.”
Such a jerk… At her mischievous tone, Ki Seo-jung covered his eyes and let out a small laugh. Shin Da-bin’s playful voice soon became a little lower than usual.
“But he was only like that to you at first. He wasn’t like that later, right?”
“……”
“Why is he like that now? Being cold to you too.”
Having gone to the same school and even shared a club, Shin Da-bin couldn’t help but know a lot. Even as time passed, Ki Seo-jung couldn’t give an answer. Although there was no reply, the silence implied many things. The perceptive Shin Da-bin didn’t ask any more questions related to him.
“If anything’s hard, just tell me. What good is an ex-girlfriend for?”
Da-bin slowly patted Ki Seo-jung’s shoulder. As her careful touch reached him, Seo-jung also smiled.
“I guess I had one good girlfriend.”
“You’re just realizing that now?”
As they were joking around, there was a sudden thud. Feeling a presence, Da-bin quickly withdrew her hand.
“Huh? What was that? Did someone come?”
Shin Da-bin tilted her head with wide eyes. At Da-bin’s movement, Seo-jung also looked around.
Looking towards the terrace window, he noticed the curtain swaying. Ki Seo-jung got up and opened the window to look inside. Contrary to his concern, the inside was quiet.
“Let’s go in. You should get some rest too.”
“Okay, got it.”
If they stayed longer, it might look like Ki Seo-jung and Shin Da-bin were declaring themselves as each other’s X. The two left the terrace and dispersed as if they hadn’t talked about anything.
Ki Seo-jung stood in front of his room door for a moment, running his hand through his hair. He was concerned about who might be inside. It seems this feeling was unavoidable, even after resolving not to care. Seo-jung closed his eyes tightly and then opened them, carefully opening the door with a “whatever happens, happens” attitude.
The room was dark without even a mood light on. Is he asleep? Seo-jung closed the door, breathing a sigh of relief. It was when he was moving slowly to adjust to the dark vision. Before he could take even a few steps, Seo-jung had to stop in his tracks.
Even before his eyes could adjust to the darkness, he could clearly see a large figure sitting upright on the bed.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
