Chapter 78
It was a perfect afternoon for a nap. Joo-ah, who had gone to work early in the morning, returned to the X House. Perhaps because she had seen the face of her beloved girlfriend after a long time, her mood was better than usual.
As Joo-ah was crossing the garden, shaking a takeout cup after passing through the main gate, she stopped in her tracks at the sight of a familiar silhouette.
Sitting on a bench in the garden was her old friend, Cha Yoon. And not just any Cha Yoon, but one with a very serious expression.
Normally, she would have ignored him and walked past, but Joo-ah was in an exceptionally good mood and feeling generous. After rubbing her chin, she soon made up her mind and moved towards him.
Every time Joo-ah’s sandals brushed against the grass, a rustling sound was produced. Cha Yoon usually had keen senses. On a normal day, he would have immediately noticed someone walking towards him, but today’s Cha Yoon was different.
Lost in deep thought, he didn’t notice Joo-ah’s presence until she was right in front of him. Whatever he was thinking about, the lines between his eyebrows had grown even deeper.
What’s wrong with Cha Yoon? Shaking her head at Cha Yoon’s gloomy expression, as if he was bearing all the world’s worries and concerns, Joo-ah plopped down on the chair opposite him. Then, she tapped the table lightly, as if knocking.
“What are you doing?”
“…”
“I asked, what are you doing?”
After calling out several times with no response, Joo-ah raised her voice.
“Hey, Cha Yoon!”
The loud voice, enough to make his eardrums burst, finally brought Cha Yoon back to his senses. He frowned and glared at her as if to ask what she was doing. Ah, should I just get up and go inside now? Joo-ah barely suppressed her wavering heart and opened her mouth.
“What’s the matter?”
“What?”
“I’m asking why you look like death warmed over.”
At Joo-ah’s question, Cha Yoon couldn’t help but flinch. Damn, how do you know that? His expression said it all. Song Joo-ah found him a bit amusing.
Does he have no self-awareness? Does he really not know that all his thoughts and feelings are clearly visible on his face? As Joo-ah looked him over with fresh eyes, she soon nodded.
The person in front of her now was Cha Yoon before his reformation. A Cha Yoon who didn’t even feel the need to hide his emotions or thoughts. Such a person wouldn’t care how he appeared to others.
Joo-ah clicked her tongue, recalling Cha Yoon’s reckless behavior in the X House. When will he ever become a decent person? Before, he seemed to start maturing around the age of twenty-two…
Wait a minute, come to think of it, isn’t his mental age still twenty-two now? But why is he in this state? Is age really the important factor here?
Joo-ah furrowed her brow as she rapidly processed her thoughts. Soon, she arrived at the correct conclusion, free of errors.
What’s important to Cha Yoon isn’t age, but his relationship with Ki Seo-jung.
Song Joo-ah’s eyes wavered as she grasped the essence of the situation. Does this mean that if Cha Yoon can’t date Ki Seo-jung, he’ll have to live with this ridiculous personality until he dies of old age? Unable to function properly in society? With only me as his friend? It was the worst-case scenario. Not for Cha Yoon, but for herself.
Joo-ah grimaced and let out a silent scream. Regardless, Cha Yoon showed no interest in Joo-ah’s serious expression. He was focused solely on the fact that he had found a target to share his concerns with. After seeming to ponder for a moment, he looked around.
“…I can’t talk here.”
An uncharacteristically quiet voice flowed from Cha Yoon’s lips. Joo-ah nodded without any particular objection to his words. Her mind was hazy from facing the truth that had been hidden until now. She placed both hands on the table and stood up.
“Is that so? Can’t be helped then. I’ll go, so you take your time thinking things through…”
“Follow me.”
There are no cameras where we’re going. Cha Yoon cut off Joo-ah’s words as she hastily tried to leave, and jerked his chin.
As if he had been waiting for this, Cha Yoon got up and strode towards the place he had indicated. Joo-ah watched his retreating back, which quickly grew distant, and with a final sigh, reluctantly followed.
The sound of footsteps that had been continuing stopped, and the place where the two of them came to a halt was the very spot where Cha Yoon had been unilaterally scolded by Ki Seo-jung a few days ago.
Perhaps because it was daytime, the atmosphere was completely different from that night, but nonetheless, it was impossible not to think of Ki Seo-jung who had been here together. Realizing that everywhere in the X House led to thoughts of Ki Seo-jung, Cha Yoon ruffled his hair.
“Hey. So, what is it?”
“…”
“If you’re not going to talk, I’m going inside.”
Joo-ah, who had been quietly watching Cha Yoon perform his monodrama, finally spoke up. At the sound of Joo-ah’s voice, Cha Yoon seemed to hesitate for a moment before opening his mouth.
“…Can you have skinship with someone you really hate?”
It’s about Ki Seo-jung. Although he tried to cover it up, Joo-ah immediately knew who the subject of the story was. That made it even more ridiculous. Cha Yoon’s narrow-mindedness in still referring to Ki Seo-jung as ‘someone he hates’. Joo-ah sucked on the straw stuck in her takeout cup.
“What about someone you really hate?”
“Can you have skinship with them?”
Cha Yoon dropped a verbal bomb. Cough, Joo-ah spat out the straw and coughed as if she had choked. After several coughs, she asked with a flushed face.
“What? You did what with someone you hate?”
“Skinship, I’m asking if you could do it.”
Indeed, she hadn’t misheard. ‘Cha Yoon had skinship with Ki Seo-jung.’ Joo-ah, with a blank expression, summarized the situation in one line.
What kind of skinship did they have that’s got him in this state? Judging by his reaction, it seems like more than just brushing hands? No, putting all that aside, when did their situation change so much? While she was blinking in bewilderment, Cha Yoon, seemingly oblivious to her reaction, continued with what he wanted to say.
“No, let’s say you’ve already had skinship. But it was so good that you only want to do it with that person. Could you feel that way? Like you’d get so angry at the thought of them doing it with someone else that you’d want to kill everyone who’s done that kind of thing with them?”
“I think I’d want to kill someone.”
“Right? Shit, and here I thought I was being weird…”
Just as Cha Yoon was nodding at the small muttered response he had managed to catch, Joo-ah immediately added:
“I think I’d want to kill my past self for having skinship with someone I really hate.”
“…”
“How can you even have skinship with someone you hate in the first place? I’d rather stay celibate for life than do that.”
Shit, this isn’t it… Cha Yoon closed his mouth at Joo-ah’s response. In contrast, what about himself? Far from celibacy, hadn’t he been begging to kiss Ki Seo-jung’s lips even just one more time?
This was not at all the answer he wanted. Trying hard to hide his rapidly wavering gaze, he brought up a different topic.
“What about finding that person really annoying and being concerned about them?”
“…”
“Like wanting to only talk with me, getting angry when they seem close with others, feeling like you need to know everything they’re doing, their every move. That’s something you can feel towards someone you really hate, right?”
“…Why would you get angry about that person getting along well with others? What’s it got to do with you?”
“Well, because it’s unpleasant to see someone you hate doing well.”
Isn’t that obvious? Who wants to see someone they hate living well? Despite the incredulous question, Cha Yoon answered without losing confidence.
After hearing his answer to her question, Joo-ah gaped at him in disbelief for a while, then suddenly grabbed Cha Yoon’s wrist. Cha Yoon’s expression immediately soured at the touch on his arm.
“Hey, what are you doing? Let go.”
“Come with me, we’re going to the hospital.”
“What’s with the sudden talk about hospitals in the middle of our conversation?”
Cha Yoon lightly shook off Joo-ah’s hand and rubbed the spot where she had grabbed him on his clothes. Despite the gesture that might have offended her, Joo-ah didn’t mind at all. A more important issue was holding her attention. Joo-ah pointed to her head with her finger.
“I think when you hit your head, it wasn’t just your memory that was affected. I think there might be a problem with your intelligence too.”
“Do you think words are sweet or something?”
“If you were me, wouldn’t you say the same thing? Let’s approach this logically. In what world does someone think they only want to talk and hang out with someone they hate? Even an elementary school student wouldn’t think like that!”
Joo-ah raised her voice as if witnessing a frustrating situation. Despite her words, Cha Yoon still couldn’t grasp the point.
“Then what is it?”
“What do you mean, what? Of course, it means you like them!”
“What?”
Cha Yoon asked again as if he had heard something preposterous. Joo-ah pushed her well-groomed hair back and spoke with emphasis on each word.
“Should I say it again? You don’t hate that person.”
“…”
“You really, really like them.”
